SENATE President Vicente Sotto III on Tuesday berated the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines for being disrespectful and knowing little about how diplo-macy works.
Sotto issued the strongly worded statement after Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng belittled a Senate resolution condemning the embassy’s recent statements on Philippine sovereignty and maritime issues as a mere “political stunt.”
“It seems like the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines wanted to silence this august chamber by calling us hypocrites and ignorant by issuing our stand through this resolution,” Sotto said.
“He is claiming that we are intimidating Chinese diplomats, yet he continues to speak disrespectfully against us and calling the Senate resolution a mere political stunt. I can say the same thing to him that he knows little about how diplomacy works,” the Senate President added.
Senate Resolution 37, signed by 15 senators, said that the language used by Chinese Embassy officials departed from the restraint and courtesy expected in diplomatic exchanges and ran counter to principles of mutual respect and noninterference among states.
Ji labeled the measure anti-China and accused certain lawmakers of distorting facts, intimidating Chinese diplomats and stirring hostility that could undermine efforts to improve bilateral relations.
In response, Sotto reminded the Chinese embassy official that respect goes both ways.
“Respect begets respect,” he said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, for her part, renewed her call for the passage of the proposed West Philippine Sea Mandatory Education Act, saying Filipinos must be equipped with knowledge about their territorial rights and the importance of sovereignty.
“Defending Philippine sovereignty requires not only legal and diplomatic action, but also a sustained effort to build awareness and civic responsibility, especially among the youth,” she said.
At the House of Representatives, Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno also pushed for the passage of the measure.
Diokno called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to certify the measure as urgent and urged his colleagues in the House and the Senate to act without delay.
“Now that we are facing increasingly pressing concerns regarding the West Philippine Sea and our maritime boundaries, it is more important than ever that Filipinos—especially the youth—fully understand our rights, our history, and the truth grounded, not only in well-documented history of territorial ownership, but also in international law,” Diokno said.
“We need to prioritize the passage of this proposal to ensure that future generations are equipped with factual knowledge about the West Philippine Sea, including the Philippines’ sovereign rights and the significance of our legal victory against China in the 2016 arbitral ruling,” he added.
As this developed, the Chinese embassy also pushed back against local government officials of the Kalayaan Island Group in Palawan who passed a resolution declaring Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan as persona non grata within its municipal jurisdiction.
“The so-called ‘Kalayaan Municipality’ council of the Philippines adopted resolutions in 2023 and 2026 declaring the Chinese ambassador to be a ‘persona non grata’ in the municipality. Based on the principle of reciprocity, the individuals involved in fabricating the said resolutions are not welcome to enter China (including Hong Kong and Macao),” the embassy said.
Kalayaan is the country’s only municipality located in the West Philippine Sea.
Malacañang on Monday doubled down on its position that not an inch of the country’s territory will be given up to any foreign power under the Marcos administration.
“The President’s position remains the same: No part of our territory nor any of our interests will be surrendered to any foreign power,” Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said.
“What the President wants is for every Filipino to be able to express what our rights are over our territory and what our interests are in the West Philippine Sea,” she added.
