Sotto laments pro-China stance of some officials

MANILA, Philippines — Despite China’s repeated acts of aggression at sea targeting Filipino vessels, some senators sounded more supportive of the Chinese – a situation Senate President Vicente Sotto III said he finds deplorable and lamentable.

He was reacting to speculations voiced by netizens in social media that several senators were brazenly cozying up to China and blocking Senate Resolution 256, which expresses the chamber’s condemnation of the social media bullying tactics of the Chinese embassy.

“I was hoping that it’s not true. But if you read between the lines, China is being favored by some of us in their statements,” Sotto said at a Zoom briefing on Friday.

“But I can’t blame our countrymen if they think that way,” he added.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, however, said that some of their colleagues may have avoided signing the resolution on concerns that doing so might worsen the already strained diplomatic ties between Manila and Beijing.

“Some of them can’t be judged that easily, as they might have their reasons – reasons of statesmanship, to ease the tension between China and the Philippines; maybe that’s the sentiment,” Lacson said.

Without giving names, Lacson said critics of the resolution may also be hiding pro-China sentiment, which he called unfair and unacceptable in the face of Beijing’s harassment of Filipino fisherfolk, as well as coast guard and navy personnel.

The most violent encounter even resulted in one navy personnel losing a thumb.

“Some of them, we definitely know as pro-China,” he said, referring to Senate colleagues. “Our countrymen were being water cannoned, one lost a finger and our ships were being harassed. Why did they not show sympathy?”

Those blocking the Senate resolution just to appease the Chinese embassy in Manila have only exposed their pro-China leanings, Lacson said.

“If you condemn your fellow Filipino for being rude or for releasing caricature of the president of China, in the same manner you should condemn China, to be fair. If they keep their silence while Filipinos are being abused, but speak out when they think China is being maligned, then they’re really pro-China,” Lacson said.

Lacson also said the proposal to declare as persona non grata deputy embassy spokesman Guo Wei has been rendered moot by President Marcos’ rejection of declaring the same unwelcome status to Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan.

15 signatories

Fifteen senators signed the draft resolution expressing alarm at the embassy’s verbal attacks on Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman for West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela and Senators Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros for their being vocal on the South China Sea issue.

The word war with senators started when the Chinese embassy called out Pangilinan for his criticisms of China’s intensified military drills around Taiwan and Hontiveros’ description of China as a bad guest when it filed a diplomatic protest due to Tarriela’s remarks.

While the resolution was supposed to be adopted on Tuesday, having the signatures of the majority, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano blocked it, calling for sobriety and the need to refer the resolution to the appropriate committee.

Both Sotto and Lacson disagreed with Cayetano’s proposal and shared the view that a simple resolution expressing the Senate’s sentiment need not be referred to a committee for a public hearing.

In calling for a public hearing, Cayetano cited the effect of the Senate resolution on the welfare of Filipino workers in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Fellow minority member Sen. Imee Marcos later filed Senate Resolution 267 seeking to counter the first resolution by calling on all government officials to be professional and diplomatic and to exercise restraint in their criticism of China, by letting the Department of Foreign Affairs handle diplomatic spats through formal channels.

Sen. Rodante Marcoleta also raised before the plenary his call for calm in the word war that he said was triggered by Tarriela himself when the latter posted a caricature of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Of the nine minority senators, only Jinggoy Estrada signed the draft resolution against the Chinese embassy. The remaining minority members who did not sign the resolution were Cayetano, Marcos, Marcoleta, Bong Go, Ronald dela Rosa, Francis Escudero, Robinhood Padilla and Joel Villanueva.

Cayetano’s sister Sen. Pia Cayetano was the lone member of the majority who did not sign the resolution.

The minority bloc is composed mostly of allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who was known for his pivot to China during his administration. Alan Peter Cayetano served as the foreign affairs secretary of Duterte.

‘Friends to all’

Meanwhile, Sen. Erwin Tulfo yesterday vowed to uphold the administration’s “friends to all, enemies to none” foreign policy as he prepares to replace Sen. Marcos as chair of the Senate foreign relations committee.

“Just like the position of President Marcos – it’s a friend to all and enemy to none. So that’s the rule that I’ll follow,” Tulfo said in a dwIZ interview.

Tulfo said he asked the Senate leadership to inform Marcos of the change in assignments before accepting the offer to head the foreign relations committee.

He received the chairmanship of the committee being a member of the majority, Tulfo said.

He also said he would push for a “peaceful coexistence” among Chinese and Filipinos in the South China Sea to prevent any more skirmishes at sea.

“If there’s peaceful coexistence and if we’re sailing together, there’ll be no hostilities if their coast guard and our coast guard run into each other,” he said in Filipino. “That would be better, right?”

“We want us to coexist because we’re neighbors, right? And neighbors are supposed to be friends, we’re not supposed to quarrel,” he said.

Both Sotto and Lacson denied that Marcos was stripped of her post as punishment for not signing the draft resolution against the Chinese embassy and for engaging in a word war with Lacson over the 2026 national budget.

As minority member, Marcos was removed from a post reserved for a member of the majority.

Tulfo said he did share the view of Marcos in her resolution that there should be restraint in criticizing China to prevent the diplomatic spat from worsening.

Tulfo also thumbed down the proposal for the Senate to declare as persona non grata the deputy embassy spokesman for his verbal attacks on senators in social media.

He said he is against it because Beijing will just retaliate by also declaring as unwelcome Philippine diplomats stationed in China.

“It’ll just be a tit for a tat. Our ambassador and other officials will also be persona non grata, and they’ll be sent home,” Tulfo said.

According to the Senate Rules, the Senate foreign relations committee is tasked with “all matters relating to the relations of the Philippines with other nations generally; diplomatic and consular services; the Association of Southeast Asian Nations; the United Nations organization and its agencies; multi-lateral organizations; all international agreements, obligations and contracts and overseas Filipinos.”

Marcos led the foreign relations probe on alleged irregularities in the Philippines’ turning over former president Rodrigo Duterte to The Hague to face trial for his crimes against humanity case.