MANILA, Philippines ? Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri on Monday said he would file a resolution calling on the Department of Foreign Affairs to file a diplomatic protest against a Hong Kong columnist who he said should apologize for a racial slur against overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Zubiri referred to a March 27 online column titled, ?The War at Home,? by Chip Tsao, who said that with over 130,000 Filipinos working as domestic helpers in Hong Kong, the Philippines could not claim the Spratlys, a group of islands being claimed by several countries, including China.

"As a nation of servants, you can?t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn your bread and butter," Tsao wrote in his column, which Zubiri quoted in a statement.

"Look who?s talking," Zubiri said. "For the record, China was once the largest producer of overseas contract workers who built the train stations in the United States, who worked in the mines of central Asia, and the country that established the most number of so-called Chinatowns in the World."

He said Tsao should not shame Filipinos "for their hard work and diligence in contributing to our country."

He said Tsao should do his research so "he might find that his ancestors were overseas contract workers as well."

Zubiri also said the government maybe should ban all Chinese products in the Philippines "if this if this writer feels that the OFWs of Hong Kong should all be kicked out."

"I am filing a resolution to ask the Department of Foreign Affairs to immediately send a formal diplomatic protest to that publication strongly urging them to apologize to the Filipino people for the derogatory remark,? he said.

Senator Francis Escudero meanwhile called on the government to defend the dignity of Filipino.

"If we need to take legal action against Tsao, let us do so," Escudero said in a statement.

He said the government should take the initiative "by hiring a lawyer in Hong Kong if at all, and file a case for damages."

He said doing so would send the message that the Philippines "will not take this sitting down" and show that the government "somehow listens and acts for them and defends them." Edited by INQUIRER.net