Koreans arrive in the Philippines

Business Mirror gets into some very sensitive issues: Koreans are an increasing presence in the Philippines, and not everybody is happy.

WHENEVER you see and hear them conversing in a public place, it’s easy to mistake them for the Japanese. Although they are just as boisterously loud as the Japanese (when talking to one another), the difference is their skin is generally paler. I know a few who are now sporting a healthy tan like a status symbol; a tan they no doubt acquired by luxuriously drenching themselves in the fairway sun of our fantastic golf courses.

Their guttural accent and the syllables of their words make them sound like Japanese. This is the unmistakable mark of a people whose country had endured almost four decades of Japanese occupation.

The people I refer to, of course, are none other than the South Koreans, whose now-divided country was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945.

I feel compelled to draw attention to these visitors, whose presence as tourists and investors in this country would normally be welcome—and even encouraged—for obvious economic reasons.

But lately, I’m afraid, the relationship between Koreans and Filipinos has begun to sour. Have you noticed how they have swelled in numbers lately, especially in the urban centers of Luzon and the Visayas? Why is it that I am getting this feeling that we have been invaded?

In places where they have established their beachheads (if there is indeed, an invasion), the South Korean is definitely the most ubiquitous among visiting foreign nationals.

In Metro Manila, they have added their loud voices to the usual din in such public places as malls and theaters, casinos, restaurants and bars, and other popular entertainment havens. In fact, many of them already own and run the bars, poker clubs and restaurants all over Metro Manila.

Even in the local private schools, there is a noticeable increase in the swarm of South Korean students enrolled at every level from grade school to tertiary. The number of South Korean enrollees in our private schools has exponentially grown, according to the Bureau of Private Schools. This tells us that more and more Koreans have made themselves at home in this country full of smiling, hospitable folk.

The local folk in Eastern and Central Visayas can’t help but notice that more and more South Koreans have begun to settle down and get into all sorts of small businesses right in their turf.

I have yet to find out if the bureau is keeping track of them. We know that as a matter of policy, the government encourages the entry of tourists and foreign investors. But the sheer number of South Koreans coming, I’m afraid, is beginning to spawn a host of problems.

Filipinos who come in contact with them all over the country are beginning to question their motives and resent their presence. I know for a fact that as proprietors of restaurants, bars or poker clubs, they have often been denounced for their shabby treatment of their workers

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