Senator Erwin Tulfo’s declaration that Filipinos had defeated foreign invaders with crude weapons drew skeptical reactions on Facebook, where commenters questioned his history lesson, recalled his American background and told him to lead any fighting himself.
“Who exactly is ‘we,’ Senator?” Butch Ruiz Baliao asked in a Facebook post challenging Tulfo’s remarks.
Tulfo, vice chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee, invoked past Filipino struggles in an October 16 response to Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan’s assertion that China could easily win a military confrontation with the Philippines.
“We fought foreign invaders in the past with only crude weapons,” Tulfo said, crediting courage and sacrifice for their success. He said Filipinos would resist again if their sovereignty were threatened, according to GMA News.
The appeal to patriotism prompted Baliao to revisit Tulfo’s own account of becoming an American citizen and his reported service in the US Army.
Those questions have a documented background. During his 2022 confirmation proceedings as social welfare secretary, Tulfo said he had acquired US citizenship in the late 1980s and renounced it in early 2022. At the time, then-Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said Tulfo still needed to provide sufficient documentary proof of his renunciation, Philstar.com reported.
Lawmakers also questioned Tulfo about reported US Army service. He requested an executive session to clarify the information, according to VERA Files.
In the Facebook discussion, commenters were equally skeptical about applying Tulfo’s historical comparison to present-day warfare.
“War is never won by harsh words feeling brave,” Alfredo Yap wrote.
Ryen Gano questioned the relevance of guerrilla warfare, while Albert Edward Tiu Dee pointed to missiles and nuclear weapons. Other commenters told Tulfo to go first and leave them out of any fighting.
Baliao disputed Tulfo’s simplified account of victories against foreign powers and argued that defending Philippine maritime claims did not require choosing confrontation over diplomacy.
The criticism came from commenters on Baliao’s post; it does not establish the extent of public opposition to Tulfo’s position.
Tulfo’s statement itself described resistance to a threat, rather than a proposal to initiate war. He stressed the Philippines’ commitment to peace and international law while insisting that it would not be intimidated.
“Nobody in this world can bully the Philippines,” he said, according to GMA News.
Jing had said China could prevail if it used force, but also said Beijing would choose peace. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the remarks threatening and undiplomatic. The Chinese Embassy accused Manila of selectively quoting the envoy, the Associated Press reported.
Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian also demanded an apology. Hontiveros urged that Jing be declared persona non grata if Beijing refused to retract the remarks and apologize, according to News5.
For Baliao, the question left unanswered by the patriotic declarations was who would pay if the confrontation escalated. His warning was directed at the consequences for fishermen, workers and families far removed from the Senate.