BID told to crack down on foreign tourists engaged in street peddling

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan to mount a crackdown on foreigners who are illegally peddling various kinds of consumer products.

Pimentel said such underground trading activity by aliens should be completely stopped because it undermines the livelihood of Filipino businessmen.

"The need to curb this problem becomes more urgent in the wake of the increasing number of overseas Filipino workers being laid off from their jobs and forced to return home, further swelling the already huge army of unemployed," he said.

Pimentel said these foreigners have entered the country as tourists but have managed to sell their wares with impunity by posing as sidewalk or street vendors.

One need only to go to Divisoria, Baclaran and Avenida Rizal to see these alien retail traders conducting their illicit business, selling an assortment of manufactured items, from cellphones and pocket calculators to toys and handcrafted souvenir articles, he said.

"The Bureau of Immigration and the police authorities should be very strict in enforcing the laws and we could not tolerate a situation where foreigners engage in any form of illegal trade," Pimentel said.

"This is unfair to legitimate traders whose business is affected by competition from these illegal vendors from other countries. This is also detrimental to the government because they do not pay any tax or fee."

Pimentel said these colorum alien vendors are easily recognizable because they do not speak to customers but communicate with them by sign language or by writing.

He said reports reaching his office indicate the problem of foreigners posing as sidewalk vendors is not confined to Metro Manila but has spread to other urban centers like Baguio and Cebu cities.