President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is urged to direct Tourism chief Christina Frasco to withdraw support for the proposed unified visa system among ASEAN countries amid fears it could allow Chinese “spies” to enter the Philippines without proper vetting.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, former Immigration commissioner, made the appeal Wednesday after reports that the Department of Tourism (DoT) strongly backs the initiative. The plan aims to let foreign travelers enter ASEAN countries without separate visas for each member state.

The single-visa system is modeled after Europe’s Schengen visa and the Gulf Cooperation Council visa in the Middle East.

Rodriguez raised concerns following alleged recent espionage activities involving Chinese nationals in the Philippines. He warned unscrupulous foreigners, including Chinese, could exploit the loose border controls, posing a “greater risk to national security and interests” of the country.

He explained that Chinese 'spies' could avoid direct immigration checks by entering the Philippines through neighboring ASEAN countries.

“This will allow Chinese tourists who are actually spies to get ASEAN visas in Chinese client states like Cambodia and Laos, or even the liberal visa grant by Thailand to Chinese citizens, to come to the Philippines, and they will automatically be admitted under the ASEAN visa scheme,” Rodriguez said.

“This will be more dangerous to our national security than our present visa issuance process,” he added. 

Recently, Philippine authorities arrested several Chinese nationals suspected of espionage targeting military facilities and the Commission on Elections, amid ongoing tensions with China over the disputed West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The surge of Chinese nationals in the country has also been linked to abuses of special resident retiree visas (SRRV) and student visas granted by the Bureau of Immigration.

In 2023, the BI reported issuing around 24,189 student visas to foreigners, 66 percent or 16,190 of whom were Chinese, mostly enrolled in Metro Manila.

Legislators also noted that 78,000 foreign nationals hold SRRVs, with about 30,000 being Chinese “retirees.”

Rodriguez said these practices enabled some Chinese residents to engage in criminal activities, including espionage, scams, illegal gambling, POGO, human trafficking, and drug smuggling.

“They are a plague in our society. We cannot have more of them here through a system that facilitates their easy entry [into] our country,” he asserted.

“We are all for boosting our tourism sector and our economy by having more tourist arrivals, but, given our experience and our raging dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, we don’t want to just accept Chinese tourists, but they should undergo rigorous evaluation by our Embassy and consulates in China,” Rodriguez concluded. 

Frasco has said the ASEAN unified visa would promote regional unity while encouraging healthy competition. She is optimistic the proposal will be discussed when the Philippines hosts the ASEAN Summit next year.

ASEAN member countries include Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, Singapore, and Malaysia.