EDITORIAL — What are they doing here?

Just recently a Korean national living in Parañaque City was robbed by two fellow Korean nationals.

According to the victim, his robbers were a certain Geon and a certain Park, both aged 28. The victim said he took pity on Geon who claimed he had no job or home here and let him stay in his condominium in Barangay Tambo.

While Geon was staying there he later let Park inside the condominium and both of them attacked him and took his wallet with ?40,000. They later also threatened him into revealing the PIN of his casino VIP card from where they withdrew ?100,000

Luckily, the victim was able to escape detention by the two and later reported to them to police, who were able to arrest them. We aren’t so sure his fate would have been a good one if he hadn’t escaped.

Cases of foreigners victimizing their fellow compatriots here aren’t that uncommon anymore, considering that many foreigners now live, work, or retire here.

In this case we see connivance and premeditation between Geon and Park, leading us to believe they had criminal intent all along. Now we have to ask: are foreigners with questionable backgrounds still able to enter the country or, in this one case, has this Geon fellow and his accomplice Park been staying here for a long time under the radar?

We also have to ask: what exactly was Geon doing here when he had no clear living accommodations? Or was that just a cover story? Does Geon have other similar victims?

Questions regarding foreigners with questionable or less-than-ideal backgrounds being able to freely enter and stay here are now more relevant than ever, considering how many of them come here to establish criminal enterprises or become part of one whether willingly or unwillingly.