House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan on Sunday condemned the publication of AI-generated videos and editorial cartoons by state-owned China Daily depicting Filipinos as monkeys, calling the content an insult that undermines relations between the two countries.

Libanan said the portrayal marked "an unfortunate descent into invective" that has no place in relations between neighboring states.

"A civilization secure in its convictions has no need to demean another people. When a foreign state-owned publication abandons reasoned argument in favor of calculated insult, it does not strengthen its country's position. It weakens it," Libanan said in a statement.

He said there is no justification for a state-owned publication to portray an entire nation in such a contemptuous manner.

"Such imagery advances neither understanding nor constructive dialogue. It merely breeds resentment and unnecessarily strains the goodwill that generations of Filipinos and Chinese have patiently cultivated through commerce, education, cultural exchange, and family ties," he added.

China Daily is owned by the Chinese government and published by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has already lodged a formal diplomatic protest and called for the withdrawal of the AI-generated opinion video and related editorial cartoons.

Libanan stressed that disagreements over the West Philippine Sea should never be used to attack the dignity of ordinary Filipinos.

"The Filipino people are not props in a propaganda narrative. We are a sovereign people whose dignity is not open to caricature. Maritime disputes belong at the negotiating table and within the framework of international law, not in campaigns of derision designed to inflame public sentiment," he said.

Despite the incident, Libanan said the Philippines remains committed to asserting its sovereign rights through peaceful means and in accordance with international law.

"We remain ready to engage in principled dialogue, and we expect the same measure of restraint, dignity, and judgment from those who speak in the name of the Chinese state," he said.