After posting on social media about killing Palestinian children, Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom Teodoro Locsin Jr. apologized and said he was only being sarcastic.
“That’s why Palestinian children should be killed; they might grow up to become as gullible as innocent Palestinians letting Hamas launch rockets at Israel,” he said in his now-deleted post on X.
“I immediately deleted my sarcastic response to a tweet as I realized it could be misconstrued and retweeted to incite,” Locsin explained.
“My apologies to those who did misconstrue my sentiments and did in fact get triggered — I obviously was not advocating for the literal death of anyone, but rather simply for the end of any ideology that condones terrorism in any way, shape or form,” he added.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, in a separate statement on Monday, said it “completely disassociates itself from the statement made on Twitter by Ambassador Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr.”
The DFA said Locsin’s post “was made in his strictly personal capacity.”
Two leaders of the House of Representatives denounced Locsin, who previously served as DFA chief.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, senior vice chairperson of the House peace reconciliation and unity committee, said the remark was “Islamophobic.”
“There is no room in Philippine society, much more in the high offices of government, for the dangerous, bigoted, and Islamophobic rhetoric that is palpable in your now deleted statement,” said Adiong.
“It is unbecoming for any Filipino, much more a high official, to visit genocidal machinations upon innocent children of any nation. An ambassador who is tasked to represent the best of our nation, a defender of our nation’s interests, must espouse our nation’s commitment to peace and humanity.”
“Under no circumstance is the killing of Palestinian children justified, and it is no laughing matter when more than a thousand Palestinian children have lost their lives in Gaza within this past week alone. Right now, a child dies every fifteen minutes in Gaza. That said, under no circumstance should Islam – or any other religion for that matter – be so callously associated with terrorism,” Adiong added.
Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo, chair of the House committee on overseas workers affairs, also expressed dismay over Locsin’s remark.
“As a high-ranking official of the Philippine government, making his provocative personal opinion public by posting it on social media is highly irresponsible. His statement incites hatred and hostility not only against the Palestine people but also against our Muslim brothers and sisters in the Philippines and around the world, a crime in most jurisdictions, and is outlawed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR),” Salo said.
“While Ambassador Locsin has apologized and stated it was a ‘sarcastic response,’ his social media post may be perceived as the official stand of the Philippine government. Worse, it jeopardizes our Filipino diplomats particularly in the Middle East who may be perceived as sharing his opinion. Worst, it endangers the lives of our already vulnerable kababayans scattered all over the world, mostly concentrated in Muslim countries, which do not share the Ambassador’s sarcasm, no matter how witty or amusing he thinks he appears,” he added.