By Robina Asido

The Philippine government has formally protested a depiction of Filipinos as a monkey wearing ''Barong Tagalog'' by a Chinese state-run media in a series of op-ed videos and editorial cartoons on the 2016 South China Sea Arbitral Award.

The video posted by China Daily shows a monkey wearing "Barong Tagalog" while being controlled by two hands with the image of United States and Japan flags on its sleeves. After getting angry for not singing the right lyrics "South China Sea Arbitration Award" written on a piece of paper, the hands use the monkey as the bullet of a slingshot fired towards a Coast Guard vessel which hit the monkey using its water cannon.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippines first conveyed its firm objection to the offensive content when Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Leo Herrera-Lim raised the matter directly with Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan in a face-to-face meeting on 16 July 2026.

Herrera-Lim demanded that the materials published by the China Daily in its Facebook page last July 10, 2026 be taken down, "stressing that such content is inconsistent with the mutual respect expected between states and does no favors to the sound and stable management of bilateral relations."

"The protest underscored that while the Philippines has consistently rejected false narratives and distortions regarding the Arbitral Award and its lawful positions in the South China Sea, disagreement over legal and political issues does not justify resorting to imagery that has no place in the public discourse of responsible states. It reiterated the call for the material’s immediate takedown, warned that such content only widens distrust between the two countries, and urged China to uphold dignity, respect, and truth in its public discourse," it stated.

The DFA also noted that the "Philippine Embassy in Beijing followed through with a formal letter to the Editor-in-Chief of China Daily, reiterating the same demand for the immediate takedown of the offensive material."

"The Department remains committed to dialogue and diplomacy in its engagement with China, but will not hesitate to call out discriminatory and offensive rhetoric wherever it appears," it added.

In a statement, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said that the Artificial Intelligence (AI) video of China Daily depicting Filipinos as monkeys reveals the weakness of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

He noted that it is also a "revealing insight into what the Chinese communist apparatus thinks of the Filipino people."

"This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video’s glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine," he said.

"Such contemptible propaganda is a disgrace to any State that claims to exercise responsible regional leadership. It reveals the weakness of a government that resorts to racism, threats, and manufactured hatred because it has utterly failed to defend its ridiculous claims through reason, evidence, or law," he added.

Teodoro noted that "the recent spate of schizophrenic behavior of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore."

"We are justified in our policy of no Ministerial or AFP defense engagements or contacts with the CCP or any of its agencies," he said.

"This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbor," the defense secretary stressed. PHS