DFA cautioned on visa-upon-arrival policy for Chinese tourists

MANILA, Philippines - Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian cautioned yesterday the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on its plan to ease the visa requirement for Chinese tourists by giving them a visa-upon-landing privilege.

He said the plan could not only boost criminal activities in the country involving Chinese visitors but might pose a threat to national security as well.

“Once we ease visa restrictions for China, we will likely have security issues. It will be like opening the floodgates for Chinese drug syndicates and gambling mafias. Sure, it may help boost our tourist arrivals, but we will be attracting the wrong kind of visitors,” he said.

“Instead of helping the economy, giving Chinese nationals visa-upon-landing may even pull our economy down because of the social and economic trade-offs. Drugs and gambling do not only tear apart families; they hurt the economy as well by decreasing worker productivity. Instead of putting their hard-earned money on necessities, people will spend it on drugs and gambling,” he said. Gatchalian noted that in 2013, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) arrested three Chinese nationals in a raid in Tondo, Manila. Confiscated from the suspects were 62 kilos of shabu (methamphetamine hydrochloride) worth P314 million.

In a separate incident, two more Chinese suspects were caught by the PDEA in Las Piñas after they sold 45 kilos of shabu worth P235 million.

Gatchalian called attention to the United Nations’ World Drug Report 2013, which showed that China and Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, ranked 9th and 11th, respectively, in the list of most frequently mentioned countries of provenance for individual drug cases for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). Ecstasy and shabu are types of ATS.

Hong Kong ranked 20th for heroin.

The report also showed that 357 illegal drug factories in China were closed in 2011, but it was unclear how many of these were “specifically manufacturing methamphetamine.”

China, aside from India, was also one of the most frequently named source countries of new psychoactive substances.

Gatchalian said Macau, another special administrative region of China, is Asia’s gambling mecca, with annual revenues of up to $45 billion. He said gambling addiction could breed all sorts of crime.

Upon the prodding of some lawmakers, the DFA is planning to discard prior visa screening for Chinese tourists and give them visas upon arrival in the country.

According to data gathered by Gatchalian’s office, a total of 884,014 tourists visited the country in January and February this year. Of that number, a little more than 99,000 are from China, representing the third largest group of visitors next to the US (131,978) and South Korea (220,831).