MANILA, Philippines- Hindi dapat maging sagka ang sigalot ng Pilipinas sa pangangamkam ng China sa West Philippine Sea (WPS) sa programang palitan sa ekonomiya, kultura, edukasyon at iba pang uri ng “exchanges” ng dalawang bansa.
Ipinahayag ito ni Senador Chiz Escudero matapos uminit ang isyu ng paglobo ng estudyanteng Chinese sa ilang pamantasan sa Cagayan at bilang reaksyon sa pahayag ni civil-servant Teresita Ang-See na kumokondena sa “baseless whodunnits na student spies” sa lalawigan.
Ayon kay Ang-See, nagdudulot ng “sinophobia at racism” ang alegasyon na pawang espiya ang mga estudyante sa Cagayan.
“She also pointed out that neighboring countries take extra measures to entice Chinese tourists and students, but the Philippines, on the other hand, discourage them from coming by exhibiting blatant racism and racial profiling.”
Ayon kay Escudero, kanyang nauunawaan ay pwede nitong sang-ayunan kung saan humuhugot si Ang-See.
“The political differences and or wranglings between states and governments should not affect the individual nationals of both countries absent clear and convincing evidence that the national’s actions are government driven [or] dictated,” giit niya.
“As I have said many times over, the territorial dispute between China, the Philippines, and other ASEAN countries should not deter nor affect economic, cultural, educational, and other forms of exchanges and that we should emphasize the things that we agree on instead of those we disagree on much less disagreeing on something that, on its face, is not even disagreeable per se,” patuloy ni Escudero.
Ayon kay Escudero, malaki ang naitutulong sa paghimok ng sinasabi nitong “foreign student dollars” sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas. Na mas mahusay kaysa ipadala ang mga gurong Pilipino sa abroad upang magturo na malayo sa kanilang pamilya at gastuin ang “teacher dollars” sa ibang lugar.
Isa si Escudero na naalarma sa tumataas na bilang ng Chinese students sa Cagayan.
“A complaint is necessary, I believe, as this is an ‘academic freedom’ issue that can have a serious push back against government regulators with oversight function over tertiary schools,” ayon kay Escudero. Ernie Reyes
