Palace on Baste Duterte seeing Chinese envoy: It’s his own tail he pulls

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Wednesday said it has no comment on Davao City Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte’s meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan, adding that whatever the mayor does, it is he who bears the consequences.

The Chinese envoy paid a courtesy call on Duterte and other local leaders on Monday to discuss local level cooperation, the expansion of partnerships, and people-to-people exchanges.

The meeting was part of the ambassador’s two-day visit to the Philippines.

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“The president and the Palace will not react to whatever the mayor of Davao City is doing. As the saying goes, ‘It’s his own tail that he pulls,'” Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said at a briefing, not elaborating on what she meant.

“Whatever he does, the consequences are his. The president cannot do anything about whatever any mayor does, as long as it is not against the law,” she continued.

The meeting took place amid ongoing tensions between the Philippines and China, following the latter’s summoning of Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz over remarks made by Commodore Jay Tarriela that allegedly smeared Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “dignity.”

Before that, the Chinese Embassy in Manila filed a diplomatic protest against Tarriela after he used an image collage of Xi that appeared to be an artificial intelligence-generated depiction of the leader fuming in anger, flexing his muscles, and holding a wooden boat bearing a Philippine flag. /apl