By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Second of Three Parts: Sabotaging Diplomacy at the South China Seas

It took a simple fisherman to educate our government and media about Scarborough Shoal.

While still nursing his emotions for losing catch for food, Joely Saligan lamented the loss of the territory by the Philippines and clarified, “Karapatan doon, sir, ay nasa mga Chinese na kasi sila na nagbabantay doon e.” (The sovereignty there belongs to the Chinese because they are in control of the area.) This portion of his statement is @2:16 to 2:20 of the GMA video “Bangka ng mga mangigisdang Pinoy, sinubukan umano palubugin ng China Coast Guard | 24 Oras”. Here is the capsule quip:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnFriLgizss4aI5iIIKXBbsj_tQQ2q5V/edit

Philippine Coast Guard Jay Tarriela, of course, cried for wolf! But who is he to say that what the CCG did was “illegal” and in violation of internal law?

The unfortunate truth is that a potentially infuriating mountain has again come out of what otherwise was a molehill. In truth, this case is still in its “blotter” stage. An incident has been reported and investigation has just started with some of the fishermen issuing statements.

But Tarriela already has made a conclusion and has called his media goons to commiserate. He feigns admission that he has still to make a report to the National Task Force on the West Philippine Seas but he has already prejudged the case accusing China of violating international law, of which he is ignorant about and does not have any expertise to comment about.

At one point he asdmitted he did not know what the Department of Foreign Affairs will do. Does this slip of tongue reveal that Tarriela, by preempting negotiations, is sabotaging the recent bilateral consultative mechanisms restarted by the Philippine and Chinese diplomatic panels?

What are the facts?

UNCLOS only deals with maritime entitlements on the waters of the South China Seas. The Arbitral award made this clear in Paragraph 793 when it said “Consistent with the limitations on its jurisdiction, the Tribunal has refrained from any decision or comment on sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal”.

In Paragraph 554, however, the Tribunal expressed the view that Scarborough Shoal is a “rock” for purposes of Article 121(3). In fact, five to seven rocks which together with a 12 nautical-mile territorial sea, technically speaking must not be trespassed.

Yet the Chinese have tolerated fishing around the Shoal but not on the rock itself and its lagoon that serves as the spawning ground for fish of various species.

What Saligan commonsensically radiated was customary international law on effective control constituting exercise of sovereignty. How can the Chinese claim effective control if they allow any trespassing on any part of Shoal.

Tarriela must explain his irresponsible comments which are not supported by the fact. The first is where were the Filipino fishermen poaching? They had actually occupied, not just within the 12nm territorial sea, but were harvesting on the rock, at the southern entrance of the Shoal itself.

Tarriela must explain why the fishermen were acting with impunity. While it is also true that the Arbitral Tribunal in preceding Paragraph 805 “is of the view that Scarborough Shoal has been a traditional fishing ground for fishermen of many nationalities, including the Philippines, China (including from Taiwan), and Viet Nam”, note that opinion does not make traditional fishing rights absolute or impervious to regulation.

In Paragraph 809, The Tribunal (qualifies and) notes, “Indeed, the careful regulation of traditional fishing may be necessary for conservation and to restrict environmentally harmful practices. Customary international law, in this respect, does not restrict the coastal State from reasonable regulation.”

What probity is Tarriela trying to establish by asserting that the area was within 200 nautical miles from Zambales?

UNCLOS only has jurisdiction on the water but not on the rock. The common fishing ground proviso does not grant exclusivity in the affected economic zone. Moreover, no sovereign right for an EEZ can protrude China’s sovereignty over the rocks and their 12nm of territorial sea.

So what international is Tarriela citing that the Chinese violated? Or he the one delusional that China does not control the area?

Saboteur?

The cover of Commodore Jay Tarriela as a “deep-penetration asset” into our security community was unwittingly burned when Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr raised concern over the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)’s lack of available assets to defend itself, during congressional hearing of the US House of Representatives last September 29.

US Coast Guard Pacific Area Commander Vice Admiral Andrew Tiongson said his agency is responding to its Philippine counterpart’s demand.

“[With] the Philippine Coast Guard, we have our largest security sector assistance program with them In fact, when you talk assets, we, through the interagency partnerships, built an entire training center to help them with operations as well as maintenance of the vessels that they do have,” Tiongson said.

“We have helped them grow …  from 5000 to their goal of about 35,000. They’re still working on that, but they’re well into that right now.

“And we have assigned a maritime adviser to them to help along that growth projection,” he added.

Source: https://mb.com.ph/2023/9/28/us-congress-told-washington-ready-to-back-ph-if-scs-row-escalates

It can now be better appreciated why Tarriela coordinates very closely with Raymond Powell of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security of Stanford University, an adjunct of the US Naval Research.

Tarriela is vulnerable for this role because he was a dropout at the Philippine Military Academy.

On September 30, 2003, PMA Management Information Science professor, Jovelyn Hermano, accused eight cadets of violating the Honor Code by allegedly cheating in her class. One of them was Jay Tarriela.

The students were able to secure a 20-day temporary restraining order on December 23 but PMA officials said they would respect the report of the Honor Committee which probed the alleged cheating.

In a Philippine Star report last January 5, 2004, PMA spokesman Maj. Edgard Arevalo, said “the (Honor) committee found prima facie evidence that the eight cadets cheated, and a cadet found to have violated the Honor Code has two options: resign as part of a “gentlemen’s agreement” or stay in the academy but suffer less respect for not upholding the code.

Source: https://www.philstar.com/nation/2004/01/05/233984/court-halts-pma-probe-145cheating146

It appears that his failure at PMA drove him to transfer towards a graduate degree from the Philippine Merchant Marine Academy Graduate School.

He joined the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in 2005 as a CG Ensign, and has served as the Chief of Coast Guard Staff for Human Resource Management (CG-1) during the watch of PCG Commandant Admiral Artemio Abu.

Despite the derogatory spot in his past, the commodore was designated by Abu as “adviser” for maritime security and spokesman for the West Philippine Seas, thus giving flesh and blood to what Tiongson early revealed but incognito.

In the Indo-Pacific Foreign Policy and Defense Series of the East-West Center in Washington DC last July 20, he was introduced as “adviser” to the Commandant on Maritime Security Affairs, as well as the Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea.

Much of his higher education was pursued in Japan because that country’s proximity to the Philippines.

Tarriela finished his Master of Policy Studies from National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo and the Japan Coast Guard Academy in Hiroshima.

He also completed his Ph.D. at GRIPS under the GRIPS Global Governance (G-cube) Program in Tokyo as a Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) ASEAN Public Policy Leadership scholar.

He was selected as part of the inaugural cohort of the 2021 Pacific Forum US-Philippines’ Next Generation Leaders’ Initiative.

Additionally, he has been chosen as a fellow for the East-West Center US-Philippines Alliance Fellowship in Washington, DC, USA.

Last August 10, Tarriela became notorious when he manifested “racism” when he called “pro-China” Filipinos as “traitors”.

“If you are a Filipino, whether in government or private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China’s aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic, and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).

In a senate hearing, Tarriela openly accused, without proof, “pro-China” writers and commentators of receiving state-sponsored funds from China. But he has not expressed any qualms over media and vloggers that are overtly funded by the US government or American private foundations. He has not also commented on the fact that the PCG has been receiving donations from the US Embassy.

Project Myoushu

In an article entitled Lighting Up the Maritime Gray Zone, author US Air Force Captain Benjamin Goirigolzarri, revealed that “taking its name from an inspired move in the ancient game of ‘Go’, Project Myoushu was established in 2022 at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation (GKC) to take a blank-slate approach to solving the South China Sea maritime security dilemma.”

Raymond Powell presented Project Myoushu to a conference in early January 2023 hosted by Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute, a Manila-based business consultancy that has been promoting pro-US positions in the South China Seas in order to leverage their own vested interests at Reed Bank (Recto Reef).

For the entire 2023, Powell served as “lone ranger” because he was a foreigner promoting “Philippine sovereignty”, and Tarriela served as his “tonto” acting as echo mechanism.

Perhaps the clearest example of the project’s insidiousness came in early February 2023, when Powell posted “evidence” that a China Coast Guard ship had harassed a smaller Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessel as it resupplied a Philippine-held outpost at Second Thomas Shoal. This was the first time during the term of President Marcos Jr that the PCG broke its preexisting protocol with the CCG and started carrying media men in its ships. 

A week later, the Philippines released photo and video “evidence” that the CCG vessel used a “military-grade laser” to “temporarily blind” the PCG crew.

Tarriela even lied to the media because the laser used by the CCG was not military-grade but readily available in Lazada, Shopee or any online shop.  A military grade laser will not only cause temporary blindness but melt the face of anyone person it hits. The CCG employed a “dazzling laser” that conforms with the UN Geneva Conventions specifications on non-lethal weapons (NLW) that can be used in law enforcement.

Water cannons too are accepted NLWs. The US Department of Defense also has these types of lasers and water cannons in their NLW program manuals and arsenal.

PCG officials who refused to be identified exposed that Tarriela was strongly recommended by Antonio Carpio, former associate justice, who has been lawyering for the Stratbase Albert del Rosario Institute that is an adjunct of the neo-conservative Washington DC think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Carpio has been lawyering for the late Foreign Affairs Sceretary Albert del Rosario and his co-chair at ADRI Manny Pangilinan, who are major stockholders of First Pacific Holdings based in Hongkong that owns Forum Energy and Philex Mining.

The two companies have been aching to spring back to their gas and oil exploration venture at Reed Bank with American and British interests, that met a force majeure on March 2015, four years after Chinese vessels blockaded a Singapore research ship they hired to do seismic surveys.

It seems the Americans have found a perfect asset in Tarriela because he does not hide his profuse loyalty to the United States and his hatred for China. This is confirmed by his own tweet, last July 18, 2023.

Jun Abines, a vlogger from Cebu said “Here’s a clear evidence that PCG Spox Person Jay Tarriela is biased and pro-American. The guy is already compromised. He is already US-Indoctrinated. We cannot expect fair and neutral judgment from him.

“Any favor given by Washington to Active-Duty Filipino Officers are forms of bribery. The US will “buy” all “Amboys” and wannabes to become warmonger and drag Philippines into direct conflict with China.

“The likes of Tariella got trip to US, Pocket money, certificates, connection to CIA operatives and some secret perks. The cheap way to recruit Filipino Amboys.

“Tell me who’s the traitor?”

To be continued:

Next Part: Understanding Further the United Nations’ One-China Policy

   

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