Per Commission on Higher Education data, there are about 70 higher education institutions, both public and private, in Region II or the Cagayan Valley. Based on university rankings (i.e. uni-Rank), the top 10 universities and colleges in the region are as follows:

1) Cagayan State University (Tuguegarao City); 2) Saint Mary’s University of Bayombong (Bayombong); 3) University of Saint Louis (Tuguegarao City); 4) Nueva Vizcaya State University (Bayombong); 5) St. Paul University Philippines (Tuguegarao City); 6) Isabela State University (Echague); 7) University of Cagayan Valley (Tuguegarao City); 8) Aldersgate College (Solano); 9) Quirino State University (Diffun); and 10) University of La Salette (Santiago City).

As an administrative region covering the northeastern part of Luzon, Cagayan Valley comprises five provinces, namely, Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, and Quirino. As we all know, the regional center is Tuguegarao City in Cagayan.

Meanwhile, a leading daily reported on the filing by two Region II representatives of separate House Resolutions on some shaky belief that they can be the proper subject of congressional inquiries, except that such legislative measures are rather porous.

HR 1666 (filed by Rep. Joseph Lara) calls for a probe on the surge of Chinese students in higher education institutions in Cagayan province and Tuguegarao City as a matter of national security.

HR 1629 (filed by Rep. Faustino Dy V) will inquire on supposed spurious schemes by foreign nationals and the consequent risks to the country’s national security. At least it made a case of Chinese nationals who took out business loans from several banks in the province of Isabela and thereafter disappeared to the prejudice of their creditors.

Quick to the draw, both Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba and Tuguegarao Mayor Maila Ting-Que affirmed the legal status and enrollment of Chinese students in the colleges and universities, confirming they were “real students” and holders of legitimate student visas from the Department of Foreign Affairs. Apparently, there’s an existing partnership between Chinese educational institutions and CHEd that encourages them to study in the Philippines.

It seems unfortunate that the noticeable increase in enrollment in the current year over past years of Chinese nationals and their choice of Cagayan Valley have been taken in a bad light — a “risk to the country’s national security and economy” — rather than a mere statistical sine qua non.

Why can’t anyone from the House of Representatives take any modest pride, inspiration, and goodwill if there are more foreign nationals, in this case Chinese, who have chosen the country, or any region thereof, to acquire quality higher education or disciplines in their dream college or university?

When was the last time we had become so racist sans reason? How can any legislator take it against a governor or a mayor if some of our local governments subscribe to the Belt and Road Initiative that is China, if doing so filters down to the benefit of their constituencies and territorial jurisdictions?

Relatedly, if we start to adopt a racist attitude against anyone Chinese coming into the country, have we realized how negatively that would impact on tourism? Is it really time to shut the gate on foreign nationals whom we associate with the “WPS stigma” due to race or color?

A Bank of America report highlighted the uneven “recovery” of Asian tourism on account of the slow return of Chinese tourists to the Philippines. If we therefore do not welcome foreign visitor arrivals simply because they are Chinese, aren’t we worse than those whom we suspect to be a threat to national security — a curse to humankind?

When our tourism recovery heavily depends on “Chinese holiday-makers” like Hong Kong, why risk not having more and more Chinese coming in to the country not just for tourism but more so for educational, infrastructural, and economic pursuits?

We cannot over-inflate the role of the US militarily by under-inflating the significance of China economically — a case of Catch 22.