Lawmakers warn against anti-Chinese sentiments from Tarlac town mayor row

The Manila Times

Lawmakers warn against anti-Chinese sentiments from Tarlac town mayor row  Militant lawmakers at the House of Representatives say that the issue against Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo should not be a reason for Filipinos to have anti-Chinese sentiments and instead urged them to look at the bigger picture -- and that is the prevalence of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOS) in the town. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, May 16, 2024, the lawmakers also tackled the divorce bill and the alleged 'new deal' between China and the Philippines in resolving conflicts in the disputed waters and the increased presence of the United States which, they said, may only enter into war as a 'business.'   Video by Red Mendoza  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Stitcher: https://tmt.ph/stitcher Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #tmtnews #aliceguo #divorcebill #westphilippinesea

Transcript

00:00What do you have to say to Mayor Alice Guo, and are you going to push for an investigation

00:05on her identity or her being a Filipino?

00:15Well, thank you, Red. We don't have a position on that yet.

00:18But we have a clear position that we should respect our citizens,

00:26whether they are Filipino or Chinese, or whatever nationality they are,

00:36we should respect them.

00:37I don't think the problem here is with the identity,

00:42or the questioning of the identity of Mayor Arlene.

00:47That's Arlene. Arlene Guo, right?

00:50Arlene.

00:51Oh, Alice. I thought it was Arlene.

00:53Alice Guo, because she looks like Arlene.

00:56So, it's up for the OSG, right?

01:03That's the job of the OSG, right?

01:05The COMELEC is already done with their responsibilities.

01:09So, with respect to what the Senate is doing,

01:17what is the implication of this?

01:20We should look at the implications of Mayor's decisions

01:26as regards to POGO and other crimes against her country.

01:33So, we leave it up to the OSG to look at her nationality

01:39and to prove that she's not Filipino,

01:44and then run.

01:45It's up to them to decide what to do.

01:48We just want to emphasize that we are not against Chinese, right?

01:54Our brothers, the Chinese, the Filipinos,

01:59the Chinese,

02:00we know that there's a long history of helping the Filipinos and China.

02:06Let's just chase the criminals, the thieves,

02:10who are not just Chinese,

02:16but other foreigners who are violating our laws,

02:22like what's happening in China, in the West Philippine Sea.

02:29That's the truth.

02:31So, what's happening is that our fellow countrymen

02:36continue to have xenophobia,

02:41the anti-Chinese people.

02:44So, we are not like that.

02:48Just to add,

02:50in two points,

02:52her qualifications, citizenship,

02:55and of course, her performance as mayor.

02:59In terms of performance,

03:00we need to look at the effects of POGO,

03:08and prove that under her term,

03:12POGO's operations have expanded,

03:16and given the bad implications to the community,

03:22and the type of jobs that are provided there,

03:27she should be responsible to the people of Bambang.

03:31Secondly, in terms of citizenship,

03:34this is where Komelek's power comes in.

03:38Assuming that the mayor really had a problem there,

03:45why did this affect Komelek?

03:47Because what Komelek always says,

03:50she needs to wait for a petition

03:53to question the qualifications of any candidate.

03:57On its own, if she already has a sense

03:59that she complies with the qualifications,

04:02she should have already taken action.

04:04It's like,

04:06what she's doing is just a chase.

04:09She ran, she was elected, and so on.

04:12But supposedly,

04:13if there are these types of questions

04:15related to her qualifications,

04:17that she really raised,

04:20before she ran,

04:22and Komelek also has a role in that.

04:24We are a bit confident in our numbers,

04:26in the divorce bill.

04:28But we only have one regular session left

04:33before our current Congress ends.

04:38Realistically, are you confident that

04:41at least this will pass before our session ends by 2025?

04:46Because we know that in the Senate,

04:49the divorce bill is only at the committee level.

04:54Are you confident or hopeful that this will pass

04:58at least during this Congress?

05:01Hopefully, yes.

05:02Because we really want this Congress to pass.

05:05And if we will be able to pass this next week,

05:10there's still one more year.

05:12The Senate is almost a year old.

05:15So, they're on the ball.

05:17We need to know if they will comply

05:20with the wishes of our citizens.

05:24But in the end,

05:25I want to say in the end,

05:26this is not the end-all be-all of everything.

05:29We know that divorce is just a legal remedy.

05:32We have the annulment.

05:34It's still there.

05:35There's the annulment, nullity of marriage,

05:37legal separation.

05:41So, there are ways that our citizens are choosing.

05:46What we just said is that this is an additional legal remedy.

05:50And this is also the wish of most of our people.

05:54The 2015 survey says that 53% of our citizens

06:00are in favor of divorce.

06:02So, we are banking on that.

06:06Our citizens are hoping that they will like

06:11these amendments or laws that will help them.

06:16In the transcript of a conversation

06:19with a general or an admiral in the West Com,

06:24he said that there are people who are pushing

06:27to expel the diplomats of China

06:32for alleged wiretapping.

06:35What is the comment of the citizens

06:37regarding the calls to expel the diplomats of China

06:44against possible wiretapping?

06:46That's all. Thank you.

06:48The issue is about the gentlemen's agreement

06:52or the secret agreement of the government of the Philippines

06:56and the government of China.

06:58The conversation has already developed

07:01up to the point that China is doing this.

07:05So, it's better to investigate once and for all

07:09the gentlemen's agreement.

07:12And we have taken note of

07:16that when the session started this May,

07:20the House leadership mentioned that

07:23the gentlemen's agreement will be investigated.

07:27But we have one week left,

07:29and so far we haven't sensed

07:33that such a hearing will be called

07:37in the Antas Committee.

07:39So, it's better to continue this

07:43as soon as possible

07:45so that the details of the gentlemen's agreement

07:49can be settled.

07:51Because it will be discussed

07:55when it really started,

07:57what was the duration,

07:59did it spill into the Marcos Jr. administration.

08:02Those things can be answered

08:04when the members of the House sit down.

08:09For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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