PCG Spokesperson Slams China Daily Video Depicting Filipinos as Monkeys

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela rebuked Sen. Robin Padilla on Friday, July 17, after the lawmaker defended a Chinese state-run media post depicting Filipinos as monkeys, saying he would never accept such an insult against the Filipino people. In a Facebook post, Tarriela rejected Padilla's claim that the PCG's transparency initiative in the West Philippine Sea amounted to "wartime propaganda." "Senator Robin Padilla, with all due respect, our transparency initiative is not wartime propaganda. It is simply a means to expose Chinese aggression and harassment — particularly against our Filipino fishermen and our PCG and BFAR (Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources) vessels. We do not create the incidents; we only document them," Tarriela said. He also took issue with Padilla's remarks, suggesting that Asians have historically been viewed as "monkeys of different colors" by white supremacists, saying the issue was not about Western perceptions but about how the Chinese government portrayed Filipinos. "Secondly, I believe it is an insult to the more than 26 million Filipinos who voted for you na tinanggap ninyo po na unggoy tayo," the PCG official said. (Secondly, I believe it is an insult to the more than 26 million Filipinos who voted for you that you accepted that we are monkeys.) "Hindi po ito sa paningin ng mga white supremacist, kundi sa perspektibo mismo ng Chinese government — sila po ang gumawa at nagpakalat ng video na iyan," he added. (This is not about how white supremacists view us, but about the perspective of the Chinese government itself—they are the ones who created and circulated that video.) Tarriela said he would never accept portraying Filipinos as monkeys. "Ako po, bilang Pilipino, ay hindi kailanman tatanggapin na unggoy ang aking lahi — at hindi ko rin matatanggap na unggoy ang mga susunod pang salinlahi ng ating bansa," Tarriela said. (As a Filipino, I will never accept that my race is made up of monkeys—and neither will I accept that future generations of our country are monkeys.) "Ang tunay na paggalang sa ating lahi ay ang ipagtanggol ito — hindi ang tanggapin ang pang-iinsulto!" he added. (True respect for our people means defending them—not accepting insults against them!) Tarriela's response came hours after Padilla accused him of escalating tensions with Beijing through the PCG's transparency initiative. "Mr. Tarriela, it was you who drew first blood. This escalation into wartime propaganda was your genius creation," Padilla wrote in a Facebook post. The senator also downplayed accusations that the China Daily video was racist, arguing that Asians have historically been viewed similarly by "white colonizers/supremacists." "Filipinos are brown, and Chinese and Japanese are yellow. We cannot deny our relativity to each other," Padilla said, adding that "going down to Mr. Tarriela's level is abandoning our Asian and Austronesian heritage." The exchange comes as the Philippines steps up its diplomatic response to a series of AI-generated videos and editorial cartoons by Chinese state-run outlet China Daily that depict Filipinos as monkeys while criticizing the 2016 South China Sea arbitral ruling. The video, posted on China Daily's Facebook page on July 10, showed a monkey dressed in a barong Tagalog and salakot being directed by arms representing the United States and Japan before being blasted into the sea by a China Coast Guard water cannon. The material was released two days before the Philippines marked the 10th anniversary of the landmark Hague arbitral ruling on July 12 with a joint statement signed by 13 countries, including the United States and Japan, affirming that the award is legally binding. Beijing, which continues to reject the ruling, dismissed the statement as a "distortion of the facts" intended to vilify China. The Department of Foreign Affairs has since formally protested the videos and cartoons, describing them as "deeply offensive, distressing and unacceptable" and demanding their immediate removal. The DFA said it first raised the issue with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan on July 16 before filing a formal diplomatic protest, while the Philippine Embassy in Beijing also wrote to China Daily's editor-in-chief reiterating the takedown demand. On Friday, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. condemned the video as a racist attack that mocked the arbitral ruling and glorified violence against Filipinos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines. He said the post exposed the "moral and intellectual bankruptcy" of China's propaganda and reinforced the government's policy of suspending ministerial-level and AFP defense engagements with the Chinese Communist Party and its agencies.