MANILA — A lawmaker pushing for a ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators on Sunday called for stricter tourist visa controls for Chinese nationals coming to the country to study or to work in the POGOs.

Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said in a statement that the strict rules imposed by the Department of Foreign Affairs on Chinese travelers applying for tourist visas should also cover other Chinese nationals seeking to enter the country.

READ: DFA eyes stricter visa policies for Chinese nationals visiting PH

The DFA this week said it is looking at requiring potential visitors from China to submit a social insurance certificate, which is issued to workers in China. 

Rodriguez's statement came amid escalating tensions between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea and as Congress investigates concerns that Chinese students and workers in the Philippines are spying on the country.

"I am urging the DFA and our diplomatic posts in China to apply these stricter rules on all China’s nationals applying for whatever type of visa, whether they are businessmen, tourists, workers, or students," Rodriguez, a former immigration commissioner, said.

Although unsubstantiated Chinese students in Cagayan province and a town mayor in Tarlac with incomplete records are under suspicion of working for Beijing.

"Let us be on the lookout for Trojan horses among them," Rodriguez said.

Worries over the coronavirus and tensions with China over the West Philippine Sea contributed to anti-Chinese sentiment in 2019, according to Dr. Jonathan Corpus Ong, a disinformation researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Ong said then that online discourse at the time "at times...slipped into racist expressions against Chinese people." 

CONCERNS OVER NATIONAL SECURITY 

Rodriguez on Sunday said that "many" Chinese that had entered the country as POGO employees were "involved in illicit activities such as murder, extortion, and kidnapping, and caused social ills like prostitution." 

"Many of them have police escorts," he added.

Rodriguez said his bill banning POGO operations in the Philippines has already been approved by the House Committee on Games and Amusement.

Meanwhile, Cagayan Rep. Joseph Lara has expressed concern over the influx of Chinese students in his province, Rodriguez said.

According to Rodriguez, Lara said the influx began after the government identified a naval base in Sta. Ana town in Cagayan as an additional site for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) activities.

Another EDCA site in the region is a military camp in Gamu, Isabela, Rodriguez said.

He urged the foreign affairs, immigration, and higher education agencies to conduct an inventory of Chinese citizens studying in universities not only in Cagayan but across the country.

"This is a matter of national security and should be investigated by the authorities immediately!" Rodriguez said.