A senior leader in the House of Representatives rebuked China on Sunday following the publication of AI-generated videos and editorial cartoons by a state-owned media outlet that depicted Filipinos as monkeys.

House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said the portrayals published by China Daily represent an unfortunate descent into insults that has no place in diplomatic relations between neighboring countries.

"A civilization secure in its convictions has no need to demean another people," Libanan said in a statement. "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."

China Daily is owned by the Chinese government, published by the Publicity Department of the Chinese Communist Party, and serves as one of Beijing's official English-language media outlets.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has filed a formal protest demanding the immediate withdrawal of the AI-generated opinion video and its accompanying editorial cartoons.

Libanan stressed that ongoing maritime disputes in the West Philippine Sea should never be used as an excuse to assault the dignity of ordinary citizens.

"The Filipino people are not props in a propaganda narrative," Libanan said. "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."

The lawmaker added that the Philippines will continue to defend its sovereign rights through international law and called on Chinese state representatives to exhibit restraint and mutual respect.