Cagayan Colleges, Universities Deny Increase of Chinese Students in the Province

Colleges and universities in the area in Cagayan denied the reported surge of Chinese students in the province.

According to St. Paul University Philippines in Tuguegarao City is home to just 486 international students. At this time, there are no international students enrolled at other institutions like the Medical Colleges of Northern Philippines, University of St. Louis Tuguegarao, or University of Cagayan Valley.

The local public colleges and universities in Cagayan do not have any Chinese students enrolled, according to a previous statement from the Commission on Higher Education (CHED), with the exception of St. Paul University Tuguegarao.

Only one college has the authorization to admit students from abroad: St. Paul University. The concerned and universities stressed that the stated enrollment figure—which in some media reports reached 4,600 is highly exaggerated and unfounded.

These educational institutions made it clear that a variety of nationalities, including Americans, Chinese, Indonesians, Japanese, and Vietnamese, are currently enrolled as international students at St. Paul University Philippines.

They strongly dismissed the claims that the presence of Chinese students is a threat to national security, calling them “deeply offensive” and “a blatant display of racism and Sinophobia.” They stressed that such claims have no place in society, especially in the educational setting.

Representative Joseph “Jojo” Lara expressed concerns about an upsurge in Chinese students, and CHED responded by saying it will support congressional inquiries and other interagency meetings to address the matter.

The importance of assigning security-related concerns to security agency competence for inquiry and proper action was also underscored by CHED.

The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines denied the allegations, calling them “malicious” and drawing comparisons to the McCarthy era, a time in US history marked by political persecution and repression.

The social media users expressed their reactions to the reports: