Palawan town declares Chinese envoy persona non grata

MANILA, Philippines — Kalayaan town in Palawan province, whose seat of government is on Pagasa (Thitu) Island, has declared Chinese Ambassador to Manila Jing Quan persona non grata following the Chinese Embassy’s recent remarks against Filipino officials.

Authored by Kalayaan Vice Mayor Alexis Albayda, Resolution No. 092-016 of 2026 said the move to declare the envoy unwelcome in the town stemmed from what local officials described as the embassy’s “blatant interference” after it demanded that the Philippine government hold Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for the West Philippine Sea, accountable for his remarks.

READ: China protests Tarriela over alleged smearing of Beijing’s dignity

“The people of Kalayaan cannot remain silent as the representative of a foreign power attempts to dictate how our government should discipline its own citizens or interpret its own sovereign rights,” the resolution, approved by Sangguniang Bayan of Kalayaan during its regular session last Jan. 27 (Tuesday), stated.

The resolution also cited Article 41 Section 1 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which mandates that foreign diplomats “have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of the host State.”

It was also on Tuesday when Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III floated the idea of declaring Chinese Embassy Deputy Spokesperson Guo Wei persona non grata. Guo has regularly issued statements on behalf of the embassy responding to Tarriela and other Filipino government officials.

Persona non grata a last resort

READ: Sotto: Make Chinese embassy deputy spokesperson persona non grata

Chinese Embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng responded shortly after Sotto’s remarks, saying that declaring Jing persona non grata “would be the most straightforward approach.”

“As ambassador, he bears responsibility for all words and actions of the Chinese Embassy,” Ji said in a statement on Wednesday.

However, the Chinese Embassy also said that only President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has the authority to declare Jing persona non grata.

“If he were to receive such notice from President Marcos, he would depart immediately,” the embassy said.

The Department of Foreign Affairs likewise urged caution, saying that declaring a diplomat persona non grata is an option of last resort.

READ: PH cautions vs declaring Chinese diplomats persona non grata

Symbolic

Albayda acknowledged that Kalayaan’s declaration against Jing was largely symbolic.

“We know that he won’t come to Pagasa Island, but this is symbolic,” Albayda told reporters in a phone interview on Thursday.

“Although we are a small municipality, we stand firm for what is ours, and we stand behind those who fight for our rights,” he added.

Pagasa Island is the largest feature of the Kalayaan Island Group and is home to around 400 residents, along with troops, law enforcers, and civilian government personnel.

Through effective occupation and control, Manila asserts sovereignty within the 12-nautical-mile territorial sea of Pagasa Island, which is outside the West Philippine Sea.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, but Manila challenged this before an international tribunal, which effectively invalidated this claim in a 2016 landmark ruling.

This is not the first time the Kalayaan municipality declared a Chinese ambassador a persona non grata.

In 2023, Kalayaan’s municipal council unanimously approved a resolution declaring former Beijing ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian, as persona non grata over the August 5 water cannon incident that year, according to a Palawan News report. /jpv