Senator Robin Padilla and Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, traded barbs online following a dispute over an AI-generated clip from China Daily that likened Filipinos to monkeys, alongside disagreements regarding Manila’s maritime transparency efforts.
Padilla charged Tarriela with instigating what he termed “wartime propaganda,” claiming the PCG official’s approach has worsened geopolitical frictions between Manila and Beijing.
”Mr. Tarriela, it was you who drew first blood. This escalation into wartime propaganda was your genius creation,” Padilla said.
The lawmaker further noted that Western colonizers and white supremacists historically stereotyped Asians—including Filipinos, Chinese, and Japanese—as “monkeys,” remarking,
“We cannot deny our relativity to each other.”
Padilla warned that matching China Daily’s AI content with a equivalent response would mean “abandoning our Asian and Austronesian heritage.”
Tarriela countered the allegations, clarifying that the state’s transparency strategy in the West Philippine Sea is designed exclusively to record Beijing’s maneuvers in the territory.
”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 vessels. We do not create the incidents; we only document them,” Tarriela said.
The coast guard rear admiral also took exception to Padilla’s comments regarding the monkey comparison.
”I believe it is an insult to the more than 26 million Filipinos who voted for you that you accepted that we are monkeys,” Tarriela said in Filipino.
He pointed out that the offensive depiction was produced and circulated by Chinese state media rather than white supremacists.
”As a Filipino, I will never accept that my race is made up of monkeys, nor will I accept that future generations of our country will be called monkeys. True respect for our people means defending them—not accepting insults,” Tarriela added.
Padilla subsequently fired back, arguing that the PCG spokesperson misconstrued his original statement.
”Even in English, you still failed to understand,” Padilla said.
The senator maintained that his remarks pointed to historical colonial racism and did not condone the depiction by China.
”My message about monkeys was not for you, but for the Chinese media, so they would realize that their AI video was an insult to the Austronesian and Asian race,” he said.
Furthermore, Padilla doubled down on his claim that Tarriela launched the “wartime propaganda” by previously drawing a caricature of Chinese President Xi Jinping while operating as an executive branch official.
”Huwag ka kasing mangongopya para batid mo rin ang kasaysayan ng kolonisasyon at digmaan,” Padilla said.