The Department of Foreign Affairs has distanced itself from Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom (UK) Teddyboy Locsin after he said in a now-deleted post on social media platform X that "Palestinian children should be killed".
In a statement on Monday, DFA said it "completely disassociates itself from the statement made on Twitter by Ambassador Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr."
The agency added the statement "was made in his strictly personal capacity."
On Saturday, Locsin posted on his X account that "Palestinian children should be killed" as "they might grow up to become as gullible as innocent Palestinians letting Hamas launch rockets at Israel."
His social media post came at the heels of Israel-Hamas war, which stemmed from Hamas surprise assault on the Jewish state on Oct. 7 that led to the latter's retaliation.
A day after, Locsin made another post, saying he immediately deleted his "sarcastic" post, which was a response to another post on X.
He said he realized "it could be misconstrued and retweeted to incite."
He also apologized to those who misconstrued his statement and those who got triggered.
"I obviously was not advocating for the literal death of anyone, but rather simply for the end of any ideology that condones terrorism in any way, shape or form," he clarified.