Transparency in West PH Sea matters is a must, says Tarriela

MANILA, Philippines — Being silent and not transparent on issues concerning the West Philippine Sea (WPS) will result in Filipinos forgetting by 2028 those who stood up for China instead, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela said on Wednesday.

Tarriela said it is the obligation of the government to be transparent to the Filipinos about what is happening in the WPS, where many attacks are launched by Chinese vessels agains Filipino seafarers and coast guard personnel. 

READ: Tarriela says defending China in WPS claims is considered treason

“If we’re going to go silent once again, to shut down transparency….Filipinos forget easily,” Tarriela said.

“If we stop talking about WPS in 2026, we would have forgotten by 2028 those who stood up for China and not for ordinary Filipinos,” Tarriela added in Filipino.

Tarriela also noted the transparency efforts of this administration in publicizing incidents in the WPS, to which he compared with the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Tarriela said that many Filipinos knew little about the issues concerning WPS during that time.

“That’s why you can hear DDS trolls saying: ‘During the time of [Duterte], there were not many incidents compared to now. It’s all because under this administration, President Marcos recognizes that we should be transparent about the incidents that are happening in the WPS so that ordinary Filipino people would know,” he said.

Aside from this, Tarriela said that transparency efforts resulted in the international community rallying behind the Philippines once an attack on the WPS is publicized. 

“Secondly, the impact of the transparency efforts are mainly… alam nilang nasasaktan sila [Chinse government] because the international community is widely supporting the Philippine government each time we publicize an incident,” he added. 

READ: Senate condemns China embassy remarks over WPS

The Senate recently passed a resolution condemning the Chinese embassy for its remarks against Philippine officials for defending the country’s sovereign and maritime rights. 

The signatories of Senate Resolution No. 256 are: Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senators Bam Aquino, Jinggoy Estrada, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Loren Legarda, Camille Villar and Mark Villar. /gsg