No sign of China tourist blacklist notification in DFA

There is no sign that the Department of Foreign Affairs has received notice from China that the Philippines is being blacklisted and that it is banning Chinese tourists from visiting the country due to illegal gambling operations.

Henry Bensurto, Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs and one of the key officials who would be notified of the Philippines' inclusion in a Chinese travel blacklist said he has not received any information on such matter.

"Me, personally, because I am not the entire DFA, but within our office we have not gotten any notice yet that I am aware of," Bensurto told reporters at a DFA Office of Consular Affairs event Wednesday evening.

"Whether it's done in another office I would have no information or no way of knowing that essentially," he added.

DFA spokesperson Tess Daza said she is checking if China notified the department, adding she is awaiting feedback from the concerned office.

There was confusion on the issue after Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Tuesday said that the Philippines was placed on China's tourist destination blacklist because of its offshore gaming operations -- a statement denied by Beijing's embassy in Manila, calling it "misinformation."

Zubiri stood by his statement that Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian mentioned the word "blacklisting" in their meeting on Monday.

Although travel advisories, warnings or blacklisting are "a sovereign prerogative of any sovereign state," Bensurto said foreign embassies may wish to inform the host government of such policy as a courtesy.

"Any sovereign state has the right to decide for itself, what its policy would be, what factors to consider in coming up with that policy and how to implement that policy," said Bensurto.

"It is not our function to intrude into that process. In the same manner that we don't want foreign countries also to interfere with our process."

However, he explained that "it would be good for each other to inform if there are any travel advisories...as a courtesy to your colleagues to maintain good relations, to prevent misunderstanding and to allow also the opportunity to the other party to somehow explain or perhaps address the issue."

Since 2016, a large number of Chinese citizens have been hired for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGOs.

Any form of gambling by Chinese citizens, including online-gambling, gambling overseas, opening and operating casinos overseas to attract citizens of China as primary customers, is illegal, the Chinese embassy said.

China said offshore gambling has resulted in cross-border crimes, such as money laundering, which undermines its financial supervision and financial security.

With the influx of Chinese workers in the country, several Chinese nationals have reportedly been involved in organized crimes, such as human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, and fraud. —LDF, GMA News