MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese-funded music video promoting goodwill and expressing support to the Philippines’ fight against the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has backfired and instead angered Filipinos who have seen it.

The video of the song, titled “Iisang Dagat” and coproduced by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, Chinatown TV, and Guizhou Xinpan Media Company, features Camarines Sur Vice Gov. and sometime “jukebox queen” Imelda Papin, Chinese diplomat Xia Wenxin, Chinese-Filipino singer Jhonvid Bangayan, and Chinese actor Yubin (from the TV series “The Untamed”) performing the song with Chinese and Filipino lyrics.

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Music video cheers China-PH team-up vs COVID-19

But instead of gaining approval on social media where it was uploaded on April 24, the video was blasted by Filipino netizens.

The main reason is that the song title’s imagery of the sea as one body of water shared by China and the Philippines belies what has been happening in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) which China has appropriated as its exclusive territory.

At this writing, the video has 19,000 dislikes and only 213 likes.

Here are some of the comments from irate Filipinos:

“A dozen F to the people behind that effing song. The WPS is for Filipinos. There is no such thing as ‘iisang dagat.’ Coronavirus, iyan ang sa inyo lang dapat, pero ikinalat niyo sa buong mundo. China, stop pretending you are with us like brothers, you are no one but an effing enemy of the world. An F to you China!!! And to those na nabagbag ang loob at naiiyak pa yata sa kanta, you are sick.”

“Just my middle finger to rate this song!”

“This is shameful propaganda.”

“China misled the world (on COVID-19). Now it’s trying to package itself as a friend by making ‘donations,’ all the while making active moves to take our West Philippine Sea.”

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“The lyrics are ugly!”

“Post angry face here. Go to YouTube and dislike it. Don’t share.”

“F U, China.”

/MUF

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