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| Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat. (Photo from Inquirer website) |
[Asia News Communication = Reporter Reakkana] Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat has ordered the Philippine Retirement Authority (PRA), an agency under the Department of Tourism (DOT), to junk its current policy of allowing foreign nationals as young as 35 years old to “retire” in the Philippines.
“I have directed the general manager (Bienvenido) Chy of the PRA to check and change this long-standing policy. We will move for its immediate repeal,” Puyat said in a text message to reporters on Wednesday. Puyat issued the order after senators expressed alarm that the PRA allowed the entry of almost 28,000 Chinese tourists as retirees, saying this poses a security threat to the Philippines.
Chy said during the Senate hearing on the DOT’s budget that it has been the PRA’S standing policy that foreigners not younger than 35 years old may avail of the agency’s offered privileges if the retirees have at least $50,000 (about P2.5 million) cash on hand. Even in China, the state-owned China Daily reported on its website, that the average retirement age was at 57 and the government was studying possible raising the retirement age because China is one of the fastest aging societies in the world. According to PRA data, the top foreign retirees staying in the Philippines are mainland Chinese, with 27,678 followed by Koreans with 14,144.
