Duterte on Chinese illegals: ‘Let them work here’

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte will not order the deportation of Chinese nationals who are illegally working in the country, saying there are also at least 300,000 undocumented Filipino workers in China. “Iyong mga Chinese dito hayaan mo ‘yan na dito magtrabaho. Hayaan mo. Bakit? We have 300,000 Filipinos in China. Kaya hindi ako maka — sabihin, o umalis kayo dito, deport ka doon. Eh kung bigla paalisin ‘yun doon 300 of them?” Mr. Duterte said in his speech at a campaign rally by the Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) in Laguna. (Allow the Chinese to work here. Why? We have 300,000 Filipinos in China, and that is why I cannot tell them to leave or have them deported. What if they deport the 300,000 [Filipinos working China]?). — Arjay L. Balinbin