Only 400 Chinese students in Cagayan - BI

There are only 400 Chinese students in Cagayan province, contrary to reports that 4,600 had enrolled in a local private school, possibly to serve as spies for the Chinese military.

- GHIO ONG

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) made the clarification in response to calls from some lawmakers for an investigation on the "influx" into Cagayan of thousands of Chinese to study in St. Paul University in Tuguegarao City.

Cagayan Gov. Manuel Mamba, who is against the presence of US military personnel and equipment in some parts of the province under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or EDCA, maintained that the Chinese students were not a security threat.

In a statement yesterday, the BI reported issuing student visas to 1,516 Chinese nationals endorsed for admission by a private university. Reports said the school was St. Paul University of the Philippines.

But BI commissioner Norman Tansingco said only 400 of the 1,516 remain in the province, as the others had opted to avail themselves of the school's distance learning program.