China bars Tolentino for 'egregious conduct'

China has imposed sanctions on former senator Francis Tolentino, barring him from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau over what Beijing described as "egregious conduct on China-related issues."

- By PIA LEE-BRAGO

The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the move a day after Tolentino's term in the Senate ended, accusing him and other "anti-China" Philippine politicians of making "malicious remarks and moves" detrimental to China's interests and its ties with Manila.

"China decides to impose sanctions on former Philippines senator Francis Tolentino for his egregious conduct on China-related issues and prohibit him from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau," the ministry said yesterday in a statement.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in response, said "while these measures are legally within China's prerogative, they are not conducive to mutual efforts to restore mutual trust and improve bilateral relations."

In February 2024, then-senator Tolentino authored and sponsored Senate Bill 2492, which later became the Philippine Maritime Zones Act.

The law establishes the country's archipelagic boundaries and affirms the Philippines' jurisdiction over its internal waters and exclusive economic zone, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 arbitral award.