MANILA, Philippines -- From Manila to Mindanao, there was a howl of protest among Filipino-Chinese over a statement made by a Palace official on the ethnic background of ZTE scandal witness Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr., a leader of the Filipino-Chinese community said Saturday.

Teresita Ang-See, founding chair of the Kaisa para sa Kaularan (Kaisa) and spokeswoman of the Citizens’ Action Against Crime (CACC), said she has received non-stop text messages and calls from members of the Filipino-Chinese community “from Manila to Mindanao” who reacted to remarks by presidential legal adviser Sergio Apostol last Friday.

Apostol had said that since Lozada was Chinese, he should be deported for “creating trouble.”

“They (Chinoys) are in an uproar. He (Apostol) is trying to divert attention away from the issue of corruption,” Ang-See told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

She also said that Apostol’s racist comment was “uncalled for."

“He should work to exile corrupt public servants instead and fill up the Philippines with upright people regardless of ethnic origin, that’s the only way our country can truly be great again,” she said.

She added: “It doesn’t matter if the accusations are made by a Chinoy, a Pinoy, or an Amboy. The issue here is corruption and what is involved is greed. Ethnicity is not important here.”

She also lamented that Apostol’s comments were made just a day after the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

“It shows no respect for the Chinoy community. It was an attempt to denigrate Lozada by adding a racial dimension,” she said.

"All of us Filipinos take pride in having a Jun Lozada in our midst. For Chinoys especially, who often prefer to be bystanders, we salute him for standing up for what is right," she added.