Tol to Gibo: ‘Welcome to the club’

Barely a month into office as “acting” secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), former senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino received notification of a possible foreign trip. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) appointed and swore him into office last May 25. As labor secretary, Tolentino has been “designated” to chair and preside over an international conference to be held abroad.

Such should indeed be an honor and be recognized internationally as a leader. Certainly, it pleased Tolentino to receive notification from our Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) headed by veteran diplomat DFA Secretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro. But Tolentino’s initial elation turned into discombobulation.

Tolentino quoted excerpts from the letter addressed to him: “You have been designated to chair the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)-Business Committee Conference to be held in Nanjing, China.” Tolentino further paraphrased the content of the letter “We’re seeking your approval whether you will go to China to preside that conference.”

For all intents and purposes, Tolentino has been banned from traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau since July 1 last year. Beijing announced the sanctions a day after Tolentino’s first term at the Senate ended. For “egregious conduct on China-related issues,” Tolentino was accused of malicious actions in pushing against Beijing’s “nine-dash line” claims in the South China Sea.

Tolentino described the notification he received at his office a week ago as “incidentally, curiously, suspiciously.” But he declined to identify the letter-sender, except citing it was signed by a female DFA undersecretary.

“Ma’am, please note that I have been banned by the Chinese government from entering China. Why would you want me to preside over a meeting in China?” Tolentino quoted in broad strokes his written reply to the unnamed undersecretary.

An honest mistake? Careless oversight? Perhaps just plain clueless? Better yet, it’s a diplomatese at its best.

Tolentino told our Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum last Wednesday that he “answered politely the DFA invite with no offense” meant with a two-paragraph letter. As of his last check at his office, he has not yet received a reply from the DFA official.

In a light vein, Tolentino wisecracked: “Hindi na ako makakaalis doon. I don’t know bakit nya ako pinagpre-preside sa China? Nanggigigil na ko, parang ipapakulong nya ako dun.”

Levity aside, Tolentino disclosed, he attached an official statement released last year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of China and official statements he issued last year in response to the ban issued on him.

As if fate teases him, another item that reached Tolentino’s desk asked him to nominate a DOLE delegate to attend another conference in China. “Sabi ko di ko pwede pirmahan yan, out of delicadeza. Diplomatically, there’s cross-hairs,” he pointed out.

In February 2024, then-senator Tolentino chaired the Senate special committee on Philippine maritime and admiralty zones when he authored and sponsored Senate Bill 2492. He shepherded its passage into law that is now the Philippine Maritime Zones Act. The law establishes the country’s archipelagic boundaries and affirms the Philippines’ jurisdiction over its internal waters and exclusive economic zone. It was in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the July 2016 Hague Arbitral Award to what is now named as the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

During a Senate hearing he presided over, Tolentino revealed alleged cyber interference linked to Beijing and suspected spying activities by Chinese nationals. He echoed fears and warned that a Chinese “army of trolls” could influence the mid-term elections on May 12, 2025. All of which allegations were officially denied by the Chinese embassy in Manila.

Tolentino ran but lost as one of the administration-backed senatorial candidates of PBBM’s Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas.

An international law expert, Tolentino believes China has been pragmatic in its application of its own sanctions. He cited how China in particular addressed the case of former US senator and currently US State Department Secretary Marco Rubio.

As a US senator, Rubio fiercely championed human rights in China, which retaliated by imposing sanctions on him twice. Shortly before Rubio took office in January 2025, Tolentino recalled, the Chinese government and official media began transliterating the first syllable of his surname with a different Chinese character for “Lu.”

So Rubio was able to join the recent state visit to China by US President Donald Trump. Being head of the US State Department that issues American passports, Tolentino cited, Rubio officially changed his name to “Marco Lu.” With his diplomatic passport bearing his name changed to “Marco Lu, he breezed through Chinese Immigration.

“That means, the Chinese government is willing to accede, bend, adjust to allow it,” Tolentino noted. Like a light bulb that lit over his head, Tolentino thought of changing his name also into Chinese character. Offhand, he could be named as “Li,” he bantered with a straight face.

“But for my own safety, I don’t have the stature of Rubio, I really cannot go there,” Tolentino quipped.

Despite his failed Senate re-election bid, Tolentino kept on and pursues his advocacy for the WPS in private capacity. Just last April, he finally was able to print and publish his book “The Ballad of Scarborough Shoal,” (Bajo de Masinloc Poems). It is his latest collection of poems he wrote and printed by the “Tolentino Maritime Publications Book.”

Tolentino conceded though that just like any other Cabinet member, he would be considered one of the “alter egos” of the President. Thus, he first asked PBBM before he accepted the DOLE post if he would still be allowed to speak freely on his personal stand and advocacy in defense of our WPS claims. According to him: “The President said ‘Yes’.”

Tolentino is not alone, however, in his staunch WPS defense who earned the ire of Beijing. The latest Marcos Cabinet member included in the China ban is Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro.

“Welcome to the club,” Tolentino tells Gibo.