By Ado Paglinawan 3-4-2022 | mymaestro@rocketmail.com | 0917-336-4366

 

Mr. Marcos, what kind of a president are you who would risk the good standing of your country with a friendly neighbor that a few weeks ago you said was our stronger partner in development?

You summoned the ambassador of another country on the basis of disinformation that was hatched by who could be a dropout from the Philippine Military Academy and whose claim to fame is his alleged closeness to a former associate justice who in turn is a rabid promoter of Sinophobia in our country and a certified bootlicker of the Americans?

You have the entire intelligence community at the click of your finger, yet you rushed judgment on his version of a military-grade green laser that turned out to be available at Lazada and Shopee, for use to measure distances between objects.

You bought his canard that that equipment temporarily blinded our coast guard men. An active AFP general told me that if it were military-grade, hindi lamang sila mabubulag pansamantala, masusunog po ang kanilang mga mukha. (…it would have not just blinded them but their faces would have been burned.)

Jay Tarriela is CG-1, and is the commodore in charge of personnel. Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu suddenly gave him an ad-hoc title of “adviser for maritime security” and spokesman for the West Philippine Seas, in order to legitimize his faux pas. but these are items that are not reflected in the plantilla of the PCG in the Department of Budget and Management.

Besides, this action goes over the heads of your deputy chief for international affairs, Commodore Algier Ricafrente, and the official PCG spokesman in the person of Commodore Armando Badillo, who is also your commander for PCG Public Affairs Office.

Mr. Marcos, did you even verify if Admiral Abu consulted Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan, deputy commandant for operations, and Rear Admiral Ronnie Gavan, deputy commandant for administration and Commodore Tito Andal who is chief of coast guard staff, the immediate superior of Tarriela, before, as PCG commandant, he made this leapfrog promotion?

Mr. Marcos, it appears that your coast guard is in a serious disarray.

 

No basis for patrolling the high seas

May I inform you that the Philippines does not have an updated official map. Our map is still based on the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1900 Treaty of Washington.

This is why based on a study of a credible Supreme Court Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza and international law experts Dra. Melissa H. Loja and Prof. Romel Regalado Bagares, a law has been proposed amending Republic Act 9522, the current baselines law, to specifically add the names and identify the maritime features in the West Philippine Sea claimed or occupied by the Philippines.

For your continuing education, Mr. Marcos Junior, under international law, legislation is an act of sovereignty that establishes territorial title.

This is necessary because the West Philippine Sea straddles maritime areas on the western side of the Philippine archipelago, including the Luzon Sea as well as the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, but it was only created by President Noynoy Aquino under mere Administrative Order No. 29, Series of 2012.

The Jardeleza proposed law also states that provisions of Presidential Decree No. 1596, (which was the historic act of your father legislating by decree the Kalayaan Island Group), Republic Act No. 3046 of 1961 on baselines, as amended by Republic Act No. 5446 of 1968, and Republic Act No. 9522 of 2009 and all other laws, decrees, executive orders, rules, judgments, and issuances inconsistent, shall be amended or modified accordingly.

It also states that the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (NAMRIA) shall produce and publish charts and maps of the Philippines reflecting amended baselines, within six months of its enactment and effectivity.

So, Mr. Marcos, please ask Admiral Abu, what lawful coordinates, in longitudes and latitudes, our Coast Guard uses in patrolling the so-called West Philippine Seas. Actually I am no longer surprised that often, the Chinese thinks they are often lost at sea, or intruding in their longitudes and latitudes.

We cannot base our decisions on mere propaganda that Tarriela released when he said, “China continues to ignore the Philippines’ legal ownership of our EEZ over Ayungin Shoal; they continue to assert ownership of the area. Ayungin Shoal is ours,” without an amended Philippine baselines law and an updated Philippine map, this reduces to a wild hyperventilation of a PMA dropout. Testosterone alone won’t work. Besides, why is Admiral Abu’s Coast Guard engaging in politics?

This is urgent because the Americans are using lawfare and information war like this to mislead you that we need four additional EDCA bases for them, in positions acting as phalluses aimed at China’s direction. Coming from Ilocos Norte, this should instead be giving you sleepless nights if you care for your constituents.

In fact, we do not need EDCA. We do not even need the Mutual Defense Treaty.

Why? I do not know about you, Mr. President, but the Philippines has no enemy, and so in your own words, why do we need an armory?