Tolentino, Marcos’ new labor chief: Sanctioned by Beijing, West PH Sea defender

MANILA, Philippines — In the waning months of the 2025 senatorial campaign, Francis Tolentino doubled down on sounding the alarm on alleged Chinese interference, even in the elections. It had been a message he carried throughout most of the three-month campaign: warning against China’s actions in the West Philippines Sea and supposed “pro-China” senatorial candidates.

In July, months after the May 2025 elections, Beijing announced sanctions on Tolentino for supposedly making “malicious remarks and moves on issues related to China that are detrimental to China’s interests and China-Philippines relations.” He was barred from entering China, as well as Hong Kong and Macau, its special administrative regions.

A year later, Tolentino is back in the national spotlight – not as a member of the legislature, but as the newest of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s alter egos in the Cabinet. Tolentino takes over as labor chief after Bienvenido Laguesma stepped down due to a “health condition.”

“Tiwala si Pangulong Marcos Jr. na mapamumunuan ni incoming Acting Secretary Tolentino ang DOLE dahil sa kanyang kakayahan at malawak na karanasan sa paghawak ng mahahalagang tungkulin sa pamahalaan, lokal o nasyonal,” said Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro in a briefing on Monday, May 25.

(President Marcos trusts in Acting Secretary Tolentino’s ability to head the DOLE because of his competence and extensive experience in key government posts at both the local and national levels.)

Sanctions an honor

Notably, Beijing imposed sanctions on Tolentino in July 2025, nearly two months after the national elections. By then, the 19th Congress which Tolentino was part of, was already adjourned. The 20th Congress would not begin session until late July 2025 yet.

Tolentino described Beijing’s sanctions then as an “honor” and “proof” of his efforts to “protect our national interest and the dignity of the Filipino.”

It wasn’t just his campaign rhetoric on stage that irked China.

Tolentino formerly chaired the Senate special committee on Philippine maritime and admiralty zones and shepherded the passage of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act, twin laws that codified the 2016 arbitral ruling affirming the Philippines’ sovereign rights in parts of the South China Sea that Manila calls the West Philippine Sea.

China does not recognize the 2016 Arbitral Award.

During the campaign, too, the same special committee under Tolentino held hearings on China’s alleged maritime espionage activities. It was during those hearings that Tolentino himself exposed what he alleged to be the Chinese embassy in Manila’s hiring of a local marketing firm to spread pro-Beijing propaganda.

“Patuloy kong ipaglalaban ang nararapat sa ating bansa, kasama ang Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, at ang ating matatapang na mangingisda na umaasa sa dagat na ito para sa kanilang kabuhayan,” Tolentino said in 2025, after sanctions against him were announced.

(I will continue to uphold our nation’s rights, alongside the Philippine Navy, Philippine Coast Guard, and our brave fisherfolk who depend on the sea for their livelihood.)

In response to the sanctions against Tolentino, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) summoned then-Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian to warn that while it was within Beijing’s right to impose sanctions, “the imposition of punitive measures against democratically elected officials for their official acts is inconsistent with the norms of mutual respect and dialogue that underpin relations between two equal sovereign states.”

Local government experience

As Marcos’ new labor chief, it will be Tolentino’s job to protect and promote workers’ rights and welfare, ensure “gainful employment opportunities and human resource development,” as well and “promote and maintain industrial peace.”

Oversight of the country’s labor export policy and the welfare of overseas Filipino workers including those in China, Hong Kong, and Macau, are under the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).

For most of Tolentino’s political life, he has been a local government official. In 1986, following the revolution that overthrew the Marcoses from power, Tolentino was appointed interim mayor of Tagaytay City. He was reelected mayor several times over until 2004.

In 2010, he was appointed chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority by the late president Benigno Aquino III. In 2015, he resigned from the post to run for a Senate seat in 2016, which he lost. He ran again — successfully, this time — in 2019.

As senator, Tolentino was Senate majority floor leader and chaired both the committee on ethics and privileges and the committee on rules. He had also chaired the committee on justice and human rights and the blue ribbon committee.

Tolentino finished law from the Ateneo de Manila University and holds Master of Law degrees from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, the University of London, and Columbia Law School. – Rappler.com