Dispute worries Filipinos living in China

A staff worker takes a nap in the empty Philippine pavilion of the 2012 World Travel Fair in Shanghai on May 11. Many Chinese travel agencies suspended trips to the country over safety concerns. Yong Kai / for China Daily

Even more than being banned from working in China, Filipinos are worried about the hard-line position their leaders have taken on the South China Sea, several of them said.

Teodorico Haresco, a Philippine lawmaker, has warned that Beijing might prohibit Filipinos from working in China, including in Hong Kong and Macao, The Philippine Star reported on Friday.

"My work hasn't been affected by the recent dispute between China and the Philippines over Huangyan Island, and my Chinese friends and colleagues seldom talk to me about this issue," said Shi Huali, a 24-year-old Filipino working in Guangdong province.

"Instead, I've heard that Chinese Filipino's businesses in the Philippines have been affected somehow," she said, noting that anti-China demonstrations have occurred in Manila.

The country's embassy in China has sent e-mails to Philippine citizens in China to remind them to ensure they can protect themselves amid the tension, said Aizelle Andrade, 23, a Filipino studying at Beijing Language and Culture University.

In protest of the Philippines' actions and words concerning the Huangyan Island, China has exerted economic pressure on the Philippines, blocking imports of bananas and canceling tour packages.

Chinese businessman Yu Jinyong said earlier this month on his micro blog, which has more than 1 million followers, that he had fired two Filipino housekeepers.

But Favorite Employment Co, a company that provides Filipino housekeepers in China, disputed the statement, saying that none of its clients had been fired or repatriated.

According to estimates, about 60,000 Filipino housekeepers are employed on the Chinese mainland, Chinese media reported.

As China more strictly enforces its rules pertaining to foreigners, Philippine housekeepers will find it more difficult to work here, said a Shanghai businessman surnamed Li. He has hired an English-speaking Filipino housekeeper for a year.

Young Filipinos should not worry greatly about the embassy's warning, said Andrade. She said many of her friends want to work in China, which they consider to be a friendly and economically strong place.

Filipinos also tend to be friendly to the Chinese, said Zhang Cheng, a Chinese engineer who once worked in the north of the Philippines for more than a year.

"So I don't think it's fair for Filipino agricultural producers and tourism agencies to have to pay for their government's behavior."

From January to October last year, the value of Philippine exports to China was $14.6 billion, an increase of 21 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the value of Chinese exports to the Philippines exceeded $11.4 billion, up 50 percent.

"For ordinary people, we are just hoping for peace and stability. Both sides should sit down and solve these problems through dialogue as soon as possible," Shi said.

Tan Zongyang in Fuzhou contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn