Karl Ocampo, 25, an operations associate at a logistics company in the city, says that while he doesn’t really mind that Chinese nationals can and will pay higher rent than Filipinos, he works in a building with many Chinese employees of one of the gambling operations and he dislikes what he sees as their rudeness and their failure to follow rules that are for the good of everyone.

“I hate how they block the driveways and how we have to wait for several minutes just for them to clear the driveways,” he says. “I also hate that they smoke inside the building, even when there are notices saying smoking is prohibited. My colleagues and I can smell smoke every day.”

Ocampo says he also resents the way Chinese nationals litter the area. “They prefer throwing things on the ground even when trash bins are near them. Their personal hygiene is a big issue for me since we can smell that they do not take a shower for days. More than that, they always spit on the floor, which could spread germs and viruses within our area.”

While there is often tension between newly arrived temporary or permanent immigrants and local populations, the Philippines government has done little to dampen the simmering anger directed at Chinese nationals in Manila and other cities.

Gaming profits have prompted the surge in Chinese immigrants into the capital. To skirt the Chinese government’s ban on gambling, Chinese gambling companies operate outside China, and a number of these operations have been set up in the Philippines. Manila, especially, is seen as an attractive option for the industry.

About 169,000 Alien Employment Permits were issued by the Philippines Department of Labour and Employment between 2016 and 2019; about half of them for Chinese nationals.

For her part, Calma is unhappy the Philippine government does so little to deal with what she sees as an accommodation crisis in Manila, and even seems to encourage the surge of foreigners coming to the city. She says she would like to see higher taxes levelled on Chinese workers and companies in the country.

Meanwhile, Chinese nationals remain undeterred, and many are looking to buy as well as rent in Manila and elsewhere. Chinese buyer inquiries in the Philippines increased by 21 per cent in 2019, according to Chinese real estate website Juwai.com.

“With the rise of Pogos [Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators] in my country, Chinese people are increasingly occupying the Philippines,” says Ocampo. Filipinos feel hard done by, he adds. “They are forced to find different flats. Also, more buildings are now under construction for Chinese to have their own areas of condo units.”

The Chinese gambling businesses largely employ Chinese nationals rather than Filipinos, which can also foster resentment shading into racism. “Pogos are catering for, and managed by, Chinese,” Ocampo says. “These Pogo institutions are situated in almost every city of the country.”

A Pogo is essentially a betting shop, providing the games, taking bets and paying the winning players. The punters are predominantly Chinese who bet either in person or online via live streaming. Chinese Pogo workers in the Philippines usually spend most of their earnings in the country, often living in the Manila districts of Makati, Bay City and Alabang, pushing up rents and real estate sale prices.

Makati City mayor Abigail Binay has directly blamed Chinese nationals flooding into the city for increasing the demand for housing and office space, prompting dramatic spikes in property prices. We will “no longer accept new applications for Pogo service providers, and [we will] crack down hard against illegal activities that are catering to Pogos and their employees within Makati,” she said in a statement last December. “This puts the local property sector at risk of overheating, where its growth becomes unsustainable.”

Binay also complained the surge in demand for Pogo employee housing had driven a rush of rapidly built, substandard flats. “These flats are usually overcrowded, with insufficient exits and faulty fire-alarm systems,” she said.

Fuelling the anger, local media in the Philippines late last year reported that Filipinos living in Makati had been forced out of their flats because Chinese nationals were willing to pay double the rent.

Jasmine Lao, a Filipino-Chinese woman in her 20s who works in her family’s business, says some locals have found themselves treated like outsiders in Manila neighbourhoods where most of the accommodation is taken by Chinese nationals.

Lao says she has seen the anti-Chinese comments circulating on Philippine social media, and discrimination against Chinese people in general stemming largely from fear of the coronavirus, Covid-19, now spreading through Asia and worldwide. But neither the criticism nor the discrimination stop her from being proud of both her Filipino nationality and Chinese ethnicity.

“I am partly Chinese and partly Filipino,” she says. “I am who I am because of the values and culture from both sides.”

Only some Filipinos see Filipino-Chinese in the same way they regard Chinese nationals, many say.

Calma says she has no problem with Filipino-Chinese, even though she resents Chinese nationals’ real estate dominance. “I had many Filipino-Chinese friends at university,” she says. “At work, they are everywhere. I am pretty used to having them around.”

Nicole See, 25, another Filipino-Chinese woman, who works in her family’s real estate business, says many locals are irritated by the shortage of housekeepers, which they blame on Chinese immigrants.

“Filipino maids prefer working with Chinese employers because they can earn more,” she says. “This makes locals hate Chinese nationals but not Filipino-Chinese.”

Some Filipinos, though, believe reasons other than real estate or employment have contributed to the current lack of racial harmony in the Philippines.

Jhim Ng, a 36-year-old Filipino-Chinese man who works in applications development at a local consultancy, says “political brainwashing” over geographical claims has driven the animus.

China and the Philippines have both laid claim to parts of the tract of ocean called the South China Sea by many, and the West Philippine Sea in the Philippines. Ng thinks Filipino resentment of Chinese nationals is a by-product of international political manoeuvring. “The Philippine government attempts to brainwash local Filipinos to develop a sense of hatred against China as a strategy to oppose China’s invasion of the West Philippine Sea,” he says.

Philippines Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office Martin Andanar has said the virus had stoked a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment around the globe, including in the Philippines, but Filipinos should not discriminate against Chinese nationals.

“We appeal to the public to remain calm, level-headed and compassionate, as we all work towards dealing with and containing the threat of the 2019 novel coronavirus spread,” he said in a statement.

“As the issue of a viral outbreak affects everyone, let us not engage in discriminatory behaviour, nor act with any bias toward our fellow men. The reality is everyone is susceptible to the virus.”