De Lima, Diokno, 8 other House lawmakers want China envoy recalled

LOWER CHAMBER. The House of Representatives Session Hall.

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The lawmakers say the President must 'take decisive action in response to statements and conduct that undermine national sovereignty and threaten the country's security'

AT A GLANCE

• Ten House lawmakers in the Philippines filed House Resolution No. 1562 urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to declare Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan persona non grata or request his recall from Beijing.
• The resolution was prompted by Jing's controversial statement perceived as a threat to the Philippines, alongside the Chinese Embassy's dismissive response to the lawmakers' concerns.
• The lawmakers emphasized the need for decisive action to protect national sovereignty and criticized the Chinese Embassy's language as undiplomatic and arrogant.

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MANILA, Philippines – Ten House lawmakers filed a proposed resolution urging President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to either declare Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan persona non grata or ask Beijing to recall him.

House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal) and House Assistant Minority Leader Chel Diokno (Akbayan) joined eight other lawmakers in authoring House Resolution No. 1562, filed on Wednesday, October 21.

Their move followed similar resolutions filed in the upper chamber by senators Erwin Tulfo and Risa Hontiveros.

Other lawmakers who signed the House resolution are:

• House Assistant Majority Leader and Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Adiong
• House Assistant Majority Leader and Las Pinas Representative Mark Santos
• Zamboanga del Norte 3rd District Representative Adrian Michael Amatong
• Pinoy Workers Representative Karl Legazpi
• House Deputy Minority Leader and Akbayan Representative Perci Cendana
• House Deputy Minority Leader and Dinagat Islands Representative Kaka Bag-ao
• House Deputy Minority Leader and Albay 1st District Representative Krisel Lagman
• Akbayan Representative Dadah Ismula

“Under the Constitution, the President, being vested with foreign power, holds primary authority to conduct foreign relations and to represent the nation in its dealings with other states, and must therefore take decisive action in response to statements and conduct that undermine national sovereignty and threaten the country’s security,” the proposed resolution read.

The lawmakers cite a number of incidents that led to the filing of the resolution, starting with Jing’s October 15 statement saying that if China wants to use force, “we may easily win.” Philippine government officials, including the President, later said the statement sounded like a threat.

The Chinese Embassy dared the Senate and the House to just declare Jing as persona non grata and “stop bluffing.” It also threatened to block Philippine officials from entering China if Jing were to be declared persona non grata.

Before the group of House lawmakers filed the resolution, they sounded the alarm over Jing’s seeming threat against the Philippines, and the Chinese embassy’s subsequent language that seemed dismissive of Filipinos’ sentiments.

“The embassy’s undiplomatic language taunting our government to declare the Chinese ambassador as persona non grata does little to encourage serious dialogue between two sovereign nations. Instead it reflects their position that our country should simply accept China’s threats and submit to its demands,” they said.

“The Philippines must not be cowed into silence in the face of such arrogance,” the lawmakers added. – Rappler.com