Marcos: No 'stricter' visa rules for Chinese tourists

MANILA, Philippines — There will be no «stricter» visa rules for Chinese citizens entering the country but the government will strictly enforce the existing rules due to reports of abuses, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

Speaking to reporters in Cagayan de Oro on Thursday, the President said that there should not be a special set of rules for a certain nationality.

«There are no stricter rules against a specific group. The same rules apply to all our friends. The problem is it's very clear there are reports there are those abusing it. That is why we are guarding against this,» Marcos said during a media interview.

«So, what we will do is to more strictly enforce. Whereas before we did not look closely, we have seen there are problems since these foreigners are obtaining fake documents, doing all sorts of things, some illegal, the scammers, those involved in human trafficking. They brought many problems,» he added.

Marcos said the government would improve its regulations on the examinations for visa applicants and for those who convert their tourist visas to student visas.

«All should be equal but we will improve enforcement in the examination for those applying for visas or those who convert tourist visas to student visas, and those who buy land while pretending they are Filipinos,» he said.