‘No illegal Chinese workers in ecozones’
Credit to Author: Tyrone Jasper Piad| Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2019 16:13:15 +0000
THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) on Monday denied a Laguna province-based publication’s claim that there are illegal Chinese workers in its economic zones.
In a statement on Monday, PEZA Director General Charito Plaza described as “unfair” the article written by Ray Junia in the Laguna Opinyon advocacy paper of the Opinyon Media Advocacies group that alleged there were such workers in the province’s Biñan City.
“Certainly, there’s no illegal influx of Chinese nationals in PEZA’s ecozones and registered industries, as we closely monitor and ensure the proper registration of foreign nationals in our jurisdiction,” Plaza said.
According to PEZA, it is involved in facilitating the issuance of working visas of legitimate foreign workers, of which 865 are Chinese.
The “DoLE (Department of Labor and Employment) can confirm the minimal presence and proper registration of foreign nationals in our ecozones,” Plaza said, adding that Chinese citizens only account for 12 percent of PEZA employees nationwide.
The state-run agency said that, as of end-March, there are 133 Chinese enterprises in its ecozones — just 3.04 percent of the total 4,382 PEZA-registered firms.
Section 40 of Republic Act 7916, or “The Special Economic Zone Act of 1995,” mandates that the percentage of foreigners working in ecozone enterprises should not be more than 5 percent of its workforce. Exceeding the threshold requires the Labor department’s approval.
Among the positions foreign workers can hold are supervisory, managerial technical and advisory ones.
Plaza also rejected allegations that PEZA registers gambling or gaming operations, online and otherwise, in its ecozones.
The “PEZA law does not register all forms of gambling and online gaming facilities. However, other Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs), which were created by distinct or separate laws, register online gaming only in their territory,” the agency said.
This, even before Executive Order 13 — which outlines the “jurisdiction and authority of concerned agencies in the regulation and licensing of gambling and online gaming facilities” — was signed in February 2017, it added.
“[W]e register investment and activities that are according only to the types of ecozones that we can register,” Plaza said.
Among these are manufacturing, assembly, processing, refinery, information technology parks and centers, tourism, medical tourism and halal.
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