Senator JV Ejercito during a budget hearing on Tuesday, 20 October.
Senate PRIB
Senator JV Ejercito on Tuesday hit back at critics who condemned his call to expel Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan and declare him persona non grata following the envoy's controversial remarks about Beijing's ability to “easily win” a conflict with Manila through the “use of force.”
Ejercito expressed frustration over the criticism he received on social media, questioning why some Filipinos were quick to attack those speaking out against Chinese officials but remained silent about attacks on Filipino personnel in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
“To those who are bashing us, where were you when one of our Navy personnel had a finger cut off? Where were you when our personnel was struck on the head? As for our fishermen who are being deprived of their livelihood every single day, did you fight for them?” he said in a chance interview.
His remarks came after the Chinese Embassy in Manila shared material highlighting Ejercito's previous endorsement of a Chinese tire brand amid mounting calls for Jing's expulsion.
Over the weekend, the embassy criticized the senator's position, describing his call as “bluffing” and merely “for show and for headlines.”
Ejercito maintained that his criticism of Jing should not be mistaken for hostility toward China or Chinese products, stressing that his objections were directed at the ambassador's rhetoric.
He said Jing, as a diplomat, should work to improve Philippines-China relations rather than make statements that could further inflame tensions over the WPS.
“But he is being very undiplomatic. His remark already constitutes a threat. That is an act of intimidation,” Ejercito told reporters.
Calls to declare Jing persona non grata have continued to mount, with Senator Risa Hontiveros urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday to take action, a day after Senator Erwin Tulfo filed a similar resolution calling for diplomatic measures against China's top envoy in Manila.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned Jing on Monday to protest his “provocative and unacceptable” remarks on 15 October. The department also warned that diplomatic sanctions remained an option should tensions persist despite the dialogue.
Hontiveros filed Senate Resolution 746 urging Marcos to require China to recall Jing and declare him persona non grata.
Citing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Philippines and China are parties, Hontiveros said Manila could declare the ambassador persona non grata “at any time and without having to explain its decision.”
Malacañang, however, has rejected proposals to declare Jing persona non grata, saying Marcos prefers to address the dispute through diplomatic channels.
Hontiveros nonetheless emphasized the Senate's “disapproval of the undiplomatic conduct of a foreign envoy.”
The Chinese Embassy has also warned of possible entry bans against Philippine officials advocating Jing's expulsion.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino, a former senator, have previously faced Chinese entry restrictions covering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau amid tensions over the WPS.
Beijing claims sovereignty over nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, despite a 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated the legal basis for China's sweeping maritime claims.
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