MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday instructed the Philippine Embassy in Beijing and Consulates-General to verify the reported arrest of over 100 Filipinos in China following a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which the Department of National Defense branded as "simple extortion" and "blackmail."
The DFA said it directed the embassy to "ascertain the exact number and status of those apprehended, ensure that due process is observed, and extend consular assistance as needed."
"The Philippines respects China's sovereign right to enforce its immigration laws, as it does the right of every state to enforce its own laws on foreign nationals within its jurisdiction, in accordance with due process and established legal procedure," the DFA said.
"At the same time, we call on Chinese authorities to safeguard the welfare of the arrested Filipinos and to promptly notify our Foreign Service Posts of their arrest and detention, consistent with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the 2013 Philippines-China Consular Agreement," it added.
There are about 12,250 Filipinos in mainland China who work as professionals, educators, and traders in economic hubs such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Xiamen.
The DND criticized China for using the threat to hold Filipinos working there in exchange for the release of its citizens who were arrested at a substandard steel firm in Misamis Oriental in May 2026, calling it "simple extortion" and blackmail."
In a Senate hearing on Thursday, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) Executive Director Benjamin Acorda Jr. said representatives from the Chinese Embassy paid his office a visit to relay their condition.
Last May, 69 Chinese were arrested when joint government forces raided Philippine Sanjia-Steel Corporation inside the PHIVIDEC Industrial Estate in Tagoloan town over alleged violations of immigration, labor and environmental laws.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila protested the raid, as noted by Sen. Risa Hontiveros during a joint hearing in the Senate led by the committee on economic affairs.
“The action against 100 Filipinos is plain and simple extortion and blackmail. We strongly condemn both the attempt by China to interfere in our law enforcement processes and the blatant blackmail against Filipinos,” Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said in a statement.
The DND stood firm that the law enforcement efforts against the Chinese were done on the basis of search warrants issued by the proper courts because they were the “principals” of the alleged illegal enterprises.
“Chinese authorities stress the issue of the work visas and passports of these individuals while refusing to address the illegal activities that they perpetuated. This is an admission by them that indeed the acts of these individuals were illegal under Philippine law,” Teodoro said.
Teodoro emphasized that Filipinos in China have neither the intent nor the capacity to commit violations of Chinese law, much less in the scale perpetuated by Chinese in the Philippines.
He said the fact that the Chinese government was “actively covering up” for these individuals was the “best evidence of their complicity in the nefarious acts of these people.”
“I reiterate that if these Chinese nationals were not involved in defrauding the Filipino people, which is now amplified by the cover up done by Chinese authorities, then they will be treated in the same way as other law abiding foreigners residing in the Philippines,” Teodoro said.
