By Analou De Vera A labor coalition has urged President Duterte to fire Ramon Tulfo Jr. as special envoy to China, after his recent criticism of Filipino construction workers. “Mr. Tulfo is not fit for the job. President Rodrigo Duterte should fire him. Alternatively, if at this point he has realized his sins, he can still save face and just choose to resign,” said Nagkaisa Labor Coalition Chairperson Sonny Matula. FFW President Sonny Matula (Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN) “Mr. Tulfo is behaving like the special envoy of exploitative contractors of the construction industry. It will be a disservice to the country if Mr. Tulfo will stay a minute longer in his post,” he added. Recently, Tulfo irked labor groups over his statement that Chinese workers were better than their Filipino counterparts. But Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and labor groups were quick to defend Filipino workers, describing them as "most sought after workers in the world." Instead of apologizing, the special envoy insisted that Filipino workers were "lazy and slowpoke." "To the Filipino construction workers: Why should I apologize to you for telling the truth that you're basically lazy and a slowpoke? Does the truth hurt?" Tulfo tweeted on Saturday, March 9. With his tweet, Matula said that Tulfo was justifying his statement. “We have asked Mr. Tulfo to apologize for his derogatory remarks against his fellow Filipinos. But instead of apologizing he justified his erroneous position,” said the labor leader. “Calling Filipino workers lazy specially compared to workers from China at a time we have diplomatic issues with the country is betrayal of the country, if not treason,” he furthered. Meanwhile, broadcast journalist Raffy Tulfo has urged his older brother to apologize to the Filipino construction workers. "Kuya Mon if I were you, nakakatandang kapatid ko, (my older brother) if I were you, please apologize. I think that's the right thing for you to do," said the younger Tulfo in a radio program. "I really disagree with you. As a matter of fact, yung mga construction worker na nilalait mo, sila ang dahilan kung bakit ang apelyidong Tulfo ay namamayagpag from the very start. Sila ang kakampi natin dahil from the very start sila ang followers natin," he added.