The Korean Invasion

Article written by Butch del Castillo for the Business Mirror sent in by a reader:

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.

Theoretically, the wealth and technical know-how they bring in would be mutually beneficial to them and the host country. But reports have been coming in with disturbing frequency that some Korean groups don’t give a hoot what permanent damage they may do here in satisfying their lust for profit.

Already of public knowledge is what they did in the Subic Bay Free Trade Zone. Here, they built a high-rise residential condominium in the middle of a virgin forest. They also tried to burn down several trees to make way for the construction of a hotel-casino in Subic. They succeeded in their clearing operations in the Subic forest, but were thwarted in the second project by a Filipino architect-environmentalist.

In Taal, another Korean group tried—almost succeeded—in putting up a hot-spring spa right at the foot of the active Taal Volcano. The group bribed its way to get official permission to build. Construction of the facility was nearly finished when the people of Taal woke up to what the group was doing, and protested. The national government, invoking the project’s lack of an environmental compliance certificate, stopped it dead on its tracks. And now—the latest hanky-panky—another group of South Koreans has gotten away with happened in the northernmost tip of Luzon, particularly in the beaches of Cagayan, home province of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. Cagayan has six coastal municipalities which used to have miles and miles of scenic and relatively undisturbed black sand beaches. The beaches have this rare, distinctive black sand that has become a favorite tourist destination. The sand’s color is black because of the presence of a mineral called magnetite. Magnetite is the stuff used in the smelting of iron ore into steel. South Korea’s steel industry is in perpetual need of magnetite. And here are miles and miles of Cagayan’s beaches that were just waiting to be gathered and shipped to the furnaces of the vaunted South Korean steel industry. A Korean mining group, called Jisan Mining Corp., according to Cagayan folk, has, in fact, been shipping off its black-sand extractions from the five towns for a long time with the full blessings of the provincial government. Thus, Jisan Mining has been merrily shipping off the black sand undisturbed in spite of loud protests from the townspeople. Huge barges were used in shipping off large chunks of the beaches over the last two years. The grim result of this callous destruction of our natural wealth was this: At least five of the six municipalities that had once been proud of those quaint beachfronts are now gone, permanently reclaimed by the sea. Literally, the South Koreans have sliced off the northernmost edge of Luzon and shipped it in chunks to South Korea! And that’s not all. Without the beachfronts, seawater has flooded the farms inland and made them totally unproductive. Saltwater is never good for any kind of farm crop. As reports would have it, Jisan Mining began to mine the beachfront of the sixth remaining municipality, the town of Buguey, in barangay Minanga Este. But this time, the mayor of Buguey, with the support of the municipal council and the townspeople, vehemently objected and actually stopped the Korean company dead on its tracks. But only momentarily. Soon after they had stopped Jisan’s mining operation with human barricades, the town of Buguey felt the full power of the provincial government slamming down on it.

Cagayan Gov. Alvaro Antonio, who was described as “unable to resist the persuasive arguments of Jisan Mining,” proceeded to suspend Buguey Mayor Ignacio Taruc based on an old administrative case, and put Vice Mayor Licerio Antiporda in Taruc’s place as acting mayor. Governor Antonio then issued a provincial permit to Jisan to do what it wanted, and Jisan Mining, as of this writing, was back in business. There were two things that Mayor Taruc did in trying to fight off Jisan Mining. First, he pointed out in writing to Governor Antonio that the extraction of the black sand was a blatant violation of the Mining Act and the Provincial Environment Code. Second, he brought the case to Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, who, on the recommendation of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, issued a cease-and-desist order (CDO). The CDO, however, was too late. The Buguey beach was already ruined, with the beach and protective bunkers gone forever. What’s odd here is Governor Antonio’s full backing of the patently illegal extracting operation by Jisan Mining. To make sure that the townspeople do not disturb its operations on Buguey beach, he even deployed 100 policemen to protect the Korean firm’s workers from being harmed by the human barricades that had been set up to prevent the beach’s destruction. Mayor Taruc, for his part, is still serving out the maximum six-month suspension that the provincial board had imposed on him for his administrative infraction of “simple misconduct.” But he has not relented in his quest for justice on his own behalf and the people of Buguey. Governor Antonio has been charged for alleged abuse of power under the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. And the people of Cagayan are now asking: Shouldn’t charges of illegal mining be filed against Jisan Mining and its accomplices? Shouldn’t the Department of the Interior and Local Government step in to prevent future abuses by the provincial government?

The other question they are asking is, shouldn’t the Korean ambassador to the Philippines be summoned by the Department of Foreign Affairs to complain about the abuses of Korean business firms in the country? This is one of many unsavory reports concerning the conduct of Korean businessmen in this country. In my next column, I hope to have marshaled the inside dope regarding Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. There, I suspect, is the biggest can of worms that the South Korean invasion of our business shores has brought to the Philippines.

[The Subic Bulletin] We look forward to this journalists next story on Hanjin although somehow we already know that money speaks louder than the words of the community when it comes to Korean Investment.

In Angeles City there has been many reports of Korean owned business that do not permit the entry of other nationalities, these establishments are for "Koreans only" they say and here in Subic we have the biggest areas of land to the North and South sold out to Koreans (and a power plant project to serve the Koreans to the West) and now the Freeport's centerpiece The Legenda Hotel being handed over to Koreans. It seems all we can do is pray for the Korean Won to crash.

Readers please keep any comments on the issue. We have no predudice for any nationality, but we do not want Subic sold off or taken advantage of by any one group.