BY HERBERT VEGO
ILOILO City – From as high as 1,400, South Koreans studying here and neighboring towns have dwindled to around 800.
This was the depressing news that the regional director of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bienvenido R. Regala, revealed to Panay News yesterday.
He said that while there are no official findings on why the number of Korean students was declining, “It could be because of crimes involving foreigners in the Philippines.”
Regala would rather not specify but he hinted that these criminal acts threatening Korean students and tourists are well-covered by the media.
”I want foreign students and tourists to come back and feel at home here,” Regala said. “They need to feel safe. That is the only reason why I am occasionally seen in their company.”
The declining number of foreigners notwithstanding, Regala said, and with only six employees including him, BI-Iloilo is undermanned at this time when it is busy implementing its Alien Registration Program (ARG) that requires all aliens – whether legal or illegal (including the overstaying) – to register or re-register incompliance with the order of incumbent immigration commissioner Siegfred Mison.
His office processes renewal of “9G” commercial working visas and issues “13-A” visas to foreigners newly- married to Filipinos./PN
