Philippine authorities have deported a group of 190 Chinese nationals linked to offshore gambling, a milestone for bilateral cooperation at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions between the two countries.
The deportees were caught in raids on Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission in Manila said on its Facebook page.
Chinese state news agency Xinhua credited China-Philippine cooperation for the deportations, which follow an executive order issued by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr banning Pogos and mandating an end to their operations by December 31.
As the deadline approached, tens of thousands of Pogos workers – many of whom are Chinese citizens – were told earlier in the year to cancel their visas or have them revoked.
As of early November, 21,757 foreign nationals associated with Pogos had voluntarily switched their work visas to temporary visitor visas. Of those, 10,821 have already left the Philippines, the Bureau of Immigration in Manila said on its website.
The bureau said it had issued cancellation orders a month earlier to 12,106 foreign nationals who had not changed their status.
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