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Pia Lee-Brago - The Philippine Star
February 16, 2026 | 12:00am
Personnel of the Philippine Navy and Royal Australian Navy pose during the Feb. 13 to 16 port visit of HMAS Toowoomba, at the Naval Operating Base in Subic, Zambales on Friday.
MANILA, Philippines — Philippine troops remain unaffected by the Chinese embassy’s word war and public attacks against Philippine officials and institutions, the Philippine Navy said yesterday.
Philippine Navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad said the soldiers are in the front line and committed to their mandate.
“Since they are in the frontline, our soldiers fully understand the issues,” Trinidad said in Filipino in an interview on radio dzBB.
“They are not affected and they know what they are doing,” he said, adding that the morale of the military is high despite the raging word war.
Officials of Kalayaan in Palawan had declared Chinese embassy diplomats persona non grata on the island.
In retaliation, the embassy banned the 16 town officials of Kalayaan from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said China’s ban on the entry of Kalayaan officials does not contribute to “good and vibrant” ties with the Philippines.
The DFA urged the Chinese embassy to be respectful and to act in a calm and professional manner in its statements amid the word war with Philippine officials.
DFA Maritime Affairs spokesman Rogelio Villanueva said China must be constructive in its statements “despite major differences.”
The embassy responded to the DFA, insisting their response was done in a “calm, professional and constructive” manner to “defend the national interests and dignity of China.”
Chinese embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng repeatedly blamed Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela, for the recent public exchanges between the embassy and Philippine officials and institutions.
The embassy again attacked lawmakers who vowed they would not be silenced or deterred by statements from foreign actors.
Ji said they would respond and push back firmly without hesitation even as Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan urged the Philippine government on Tuesday to talk with China in order to find ways to manage differences.
Tolentino refutes Marcoleta
Meanwhile, former senator Francis Tolentino yesterday dismissed claims that the Philippines lacks clear coordinates for its territory in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), calling such assertions false and clarifying that the country submitted its definitive data to the United Nations more than a decade ago.
The statement comes after remarks earlier made by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, where he argued that the Philippines has yet to establish the specific “metes and bounds” of its claim, leaving key features like Pag-asa Island technically outside the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.
In an interview on dzBB, Tolentino explained that the requirement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea is not a map, but coordinates or charts – requirements the Philippines has already met.
For his part, Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña cried foul yesterday over the latest Chinese embassy threats warning of the loss of millions of jobs in the country amid the word war. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Jose Rodel Clapano
