House to probe influx of Chinese retirees

The House of Representatives will probe the alleged abuse in the grant of special resident retiree visas (SRRVs) that has led to the suspicious influx of Chinese nationals into the country.

In an ambush interview on Tuesday, House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo disclosed that at least 30,000 Chinese nationals in the country hold SRRVs, albeit they had yet to reach the retirement age of 50. Many of them were supposedly young retirees aged 35 years.

Tulfo obtained the figures from the Bureau of Immigration (BI), which showed that 78,000 foreign nationals have been granted SRRVs.

The SRRV is a lifetime visa issued by the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA) that is attached to the Department of Tourism. SRRV holders are eligible to work, study, and invest in the Philippines and are exempt from BI requirements.

“The same goes for investor visas. There are no millions invested [in the country], but there is a [surge] in investor visas. Some are just POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) workers but they are on investor visas,” Tulfo told reporters after he filed House Resolution 1771.

The resolution was filed following the directive of Speaker Martin Romualdez, Tulfo said.

The delayed registration of birth certificates which has also enabled the sudden surge of Chinese in the Philippines will undergo rigorous scrutiny as well, and the PRA, Board of Investments and Philippine Statistics Authority owe the House an explanation, said Tulfo.

Reports have also reached Tulfo’s office of Chinese nationals filing lawsuits against Filipinos in a ploy to delay or stop their deportation.

“There are so many illegal Chinese nationals here in our own yard that I think we really need to start looking [into] them. If it needs to be cleaned, then we’ll clean it. If we have to send them home, let’s send them home because [they are putting us] in trouble,” Tulfo said.

Apart from SRRVs and investor visas, student visas were issued to 16,190 Chinese last year.

The BI earlier said that 24,189 student visas were granted to various foreign nationals last year, 66 percent or 16,190 of whom were Chinese. The majority of the Chinese students were enrolled in Metro Manila.