DND, Chinese Embassy trade accusations of lawlessness
MANILA, Philippines — The public row between the Philippines' defense department and the Chinese Embassy in Manila escalated Thursday, August 20, into mutual accusations of lawlessness and shielding criminals.
Still on the May raid at a steel plant in Misamis Oriental, the Department of National Defense (DND) accused the embassy of supposedly shielding criminals and acting as a "PR firm" for people with suspected illegal activities, naming Chinese businessman Tony Yang.
"The Chinese Embassy is now a PR firm for Tony Yang and other illegal activities in this country which are apparently their clients," Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro Jr. said in a statement. "From their public statements in the past days it is obvious that they are covering up for these people."
In a separate statement, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) similarly called out the embassy's criticism of the government’s steel firm raid, which it said showed “a clear disregard for diplomatic decorum" and Philippine laws.
The May raid on the Sanjia Steel Corp. plant in Misamis Oriental, a firm with alleged ties to Yang, led to the arrest of around 70 undocumented Chinese nationals.
The operation was carried out based on a court-issued warrant, and following complaints of immigration, labor and public safety violations.
Following the operation, the embassy had raised the possibility of discrimination against the Chinese workers given over 300 Filipino co?workers were freed the same day.
That operation has since become the center of a tit-for-tat between the embassy and Teodoro, who earlier this month accused China of staging revenge arrests after Beijing moved against more than 100 Filipinos for alleged immigration violations. He called the law enforcement action "extortion and blackmail."
On Wednesday, the embassy hit back Teodoro's series of statements and accused Teodoro of unnecessarily involving military personnel in the May steel firm raid, among others. It also said the Philippine side's national security was "built on fabricated narratives, deliberately exaggerated threats, and the framing and persecution of a particular group of people."
On Thursday, Teodoro, in a statement, accused the embassy of covering up for Yang, and urged Filipinos to condemn the embassy, saying no foreign mission posted to the country had gone this far in its statements.
"In all the Embassies ever here in the Philippines, only now have we seen this kind of excess. We need to show that we will not tolerate this," Teodoro said in Filipino.
The PAOCC statement on Thursday sought to give a more complete context to the raid on the steel firm, which it said was "an inter-agency law-enforcement operation, not an action against any nationality."
"The agencies involved acted according to their respective mandates, while the Armed Forces of the Philippines provided security and logistical support. Its participation should not be misconstrued as a military operation against Chinese workers," the PAOCC statement read.
The embassy however called out Teodoro for his "absurd" allegation, and insisted it was merely protecting its nationals, who "should be prevented from being framed, falsely accused, or subjected to unfair and inhumane treatment."
"But just look at how innocent Chinese workers were treated like animals by the Philippine side in the Sanjia case," it added.
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