by ISA LORENZO

IN HER school uniform and with an accent that is more Sandra Oh than Sandara Park, Sarang Lim does not look or sound too different from the rest of her schoolmates at the country's oldest university. But the 24-year-old is part of the latest foreign invasion to hit the Philippines, although her countrymen, contrary to public perception, have not been flocking to our shores only recently. In fact, Koreans have been coming over in significant numbers for at least two decades now, many of them making the trip as families.

	TWENTY-FOUR-YEAR-OLD Sarang Lim (right) has lived in the Philippines for almost eight years. [photo by Isa Lorenzo]

It was partly due to the increasing cost of labor in South Korea, as well as the appreciation of the Korean won, that Korean companies outsourced their factories to countries like the Philippines in the mid-1980s. The first recorded Korean company to set up shop here was Han-Phil Industries Inc. in 1985. This sparked a wave of migration spearheaded by Korean businessmen, employees, and their families, to this country, according to sociologist Virginia Miralao and foreign studies professor Kanako Kutsumi.

By the 1990s, says Danilo Almeda, chief of the Alien Registration Division of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Koreans had displaced the Japanese as the top visitors in terms of number to the Philippines. Last year alone, 572,133 of the country's foreign visitors were from South Korea.

Most visitors can stay for up to three weeks, the maximum period of time Koreans without a visa are allowed to stay in the Philippines, on the condition that they have an onward or return ticket. Those who wish to stay longer can apply for an extension of up to one year. Many are opting to stay longer than that; Korean communities have already sprouted within several subdivisions in Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Cavite, as well as in places farther from the capital, such as Baguio, Dumaguete, and Davao. And while immigration officials are hard pressed in coming up with a current figure for Koreans in the country, it estimates that the number could run up to 900,000.

Students make up the bulk of the newer arrivals, and then come businessmen and workers, and missionaries and retirees. In 1998, few Koreans stayed in the country for more than three months; these days, about half of those who arrive spend at least a year here.

Yet just like those who came earlier, few of the newly arrived Koreans have expressed intentions to stay in the country for too long, much less permanently; the BI itself says there are only 20,130 Koreans who are registered aliens in the Philippines (meaning they will be sticking around a lot longer than tourists). This may be why although they have become more visible in recent years, Koreans have yet to "connect" with Filipinos, who still see them largely as strangers instead of as neighbors or even frequent guests.

Most Koreans here seem to make little effort to mingle with the locals, preferring to keep to themselves, even to the point of establishing and patronizing businesses catering exclusively to fellow Koreans. Or as many observers put it, Koreans, seeing themselves as visitors, do not seem to be interested in "building relations with their host communities."

	A KOREAN internet cafe in Brgy. Holy Spirt, Quezon City. [photo by Isa Lorenzo]

IT'S A situation that can lead to several problems, among them friction between communities because of inaccurate perceptions. In Dumaguete, where there is a small Korean community, locals confess to a "vague unease" toward the foreigners in their midst, says sociologist Lorna Makil in a 2002 paper. And while she notes there have been no overt negative reactions, that may not always be the case.

Most of the Koreans who live in Dumaguete are actually missionary families and students. Yet, says Makil, "the comfortable life of Korean pastors, living in better homes and driving their own cars, contradicts the image of the poor and sacrificing Protestant pastor."

The perception that the Koreans are well-to-do will hold so long as they remain a "closed" group, says Makil. Unfortunately, she echoes observations about Koreans elsewhere in the country in saying, "There is little sign that the Koreans who live here want to show more of their own culture to their host community."

It doesn't help of course that Korean presence in a community does not necessarily translate into more profits for local businesses. Indeed, some Filipino entrepreneurs have complained over what they say is unfair competition from Koreans who have cornered the local Korean market.

In Cebu, for instance, local tour operators say they do not earn anything from the hordes of Korean visitors to their city because these are met and serviced by Korean tour guides, contrary to Philippine regulations. In Baguio, residents say some Korean businesses have been set up by dummy corporations to take advantage of the large population of Korean students there. Makati and Ermita also have "Koreatowns," which are actually strips of Korean stores catering mostly to Koreans.

BI Immigration Regulation chief Gary Medina says the bureau will crack down on foreigners engaging in business illegally. That includes Koreans, he says. Medina adds, though, that Korean guides are able to operate in the country because the Estrada administration had granted special work permits to Koreans, with the condition that they would teach Filipino tour operators to speak their language.

Apparently, such "teaching" has yet to take place. The promised crackdown, however, has begun — although some Koreans say it has been more of a shakedown, with immigration agents asking for money in return for leaving them in peace. Earlier this week, the Korean Embassy was even moved to halt the issuance of visas to Filipino workers bound for South Korea, in protest, it said, to what was being done to its citizens here. The immigration bureau has replied that it will conduct an investigation on the complaints.