Diplomacy and national pride can coexist, Senator Robinhood Padilla argued Friday, as his office threw its weight behind the government’s formal objection to a Chinese state-media clip that portrayed Filipinos as monkeys.
The senator’s statement singled out the Department of Foreign Affairs for pushing back against what it labeled racist material circulated by China Daily, a publication tied to the arbitral ruling controversy over the South China Sea.
“Freedom of expression and political discourse must never become an excuse for racism, dehumanization, or attacks on the dignity of any people. Depicting Filipinos in such an offensive manner is unacceptable and deserves unequivocal condemnation,” Padilla’s office said.
At the center of the dispute is a 58-second AI-generated clip that appeared on China Daily’s Facebook page on July 10, according to Rappler and the Eastern Herald. The animation shows a monkey outfitted in a barong Tagalog and salakot, hoisted onto a floating karaoke stage by oversized hands marked with American and Japanese sleeves. After singing what the video frames as the wrong lyrics, the character is dumped into the water and struck by a coast guard water cannon. Bloomberg reported that the same material dismissed the 2016 tribunal decision as “litter.”
Padilla framed his position around a broader principle. His office wrote that a country can hold firm on its convictions while still treating others with respect, and that patriotism does not rule out diplomacy. It also reaffirmed the need to protect the Philippines’ lawful claims in the West Philippine Sea while pursuing regional stability.
The support marks a shift for the senator. Rappler noted that months earlier, Padilla declined to sign Senate Resolution 256, which condemned the Chinese embassy for what lawmakers described as improper criticism of Philippine officials defending national sovereignty. Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Rear Adm. Jay Tarriela seized on the moment, challenging Padilla and Senator Alan Peter Cayetano — both of whom had urged him to apologize over a January caricature of Chinese President Xi Jinping — to now press Beijing for its own apology. “Again, there is a difference between satire and racist portrayal,” Tarriela told reporters, per the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
The DFA’s protest, lodged this week, described the clip as demeaning, dehumanizing, and racist, and said it strayed far past legitimate political debate. Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim first raised the objection directly with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan during a July 16 meeting, demanding the material be pulled down. The Philippine Embassy in Beijing followed with a formal letter to China Daily’s editor-in-chief.
“Such imagery and misinformation only serve to widen the distrust between the Philippines and China. The Philippines demands that the offensive material be taken down, calls for the immediate cessation of such irresponsible content, and urges China to uphold dignity, respect, and truth in public discourse,” the DFA said.
Other lawmakers voiced sharper reactions. Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Miguel Zubiri said Manila would refuse to meet the provocation with equal contempt, while Senator Panfilo Lacson questioned what the caricature said about its creators. The Eastern Herald reported that as of Thursday evening the video was still live on China Daily’s Facebook account, with no Chinese official responding publicly.
The 2016 ruling that the clip mocked struck down Beijing’s expansive maritime claims, which had covered more than 90 percent of the West Philippine Sea, and affirmed the country’s rights within its exclusive economic zone.
