By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Part Three: Where Brawner sees war, China sees diplomacy

I almost fell down my chair listening to Jay Tarriela blabbering about why he has failed in his mission to win the narrative in his defense of the West Philippine Sea.

But you see in order to start a proper debate, one must know where the other side is coming from. Today, I am an opinion writer and a policy analyst.

To serve Tarriela’s vocabulary, I am not an initiator of facts. That is why I do not generate fake news. As an analyst, however, I generate ideas depending on the available information that confront me. Whenever I make a mistake or fall short, as a normative practice in journalism, I issue an erratum or a rejoinder. 

I am not a vlogger, I publish my works in a public website, books and regular social media platforms. As always, my opinions sometimes land in mainstream print and broadcast stations. But as I am a prolific writer, outside of one episode dropped by YouTube, I have never been banned by any platform for violation of community standards.   

My humble beginnings as a writer began when I was Grade 7 as associate editor of the Little Bedan.

Encouraged by Jose and Jo David Quiambao, congressional and tourism reporters for the Daily Mirror, I worked as a proofreader for them, when I was first  year high-school earning a modest allowance.

A year later, I graduated to becoming copywriter for the couple, while simultaneously serving as managing editor of San Beda’s high-school organ The Cub Recorder.

In college, I became managing editor of The Bedan and underwent rigorous practicum under Eric Giron of the Daily Mirror Magazine, who was my adviser.

In 1968 while I was in my junior year, I was elected president of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, and started the Student Press Development Program with Johnny Mercado and Vic Tirol of the Philippine Press Institute, funded by Chino Roces of The Manila Times and his fellow publishers.

My first career after college, however, will not land in journalism but in the advertising and marketing field up to 1984.

That was one year after Ninoy Aquino was assassinated when nationwide factories started shutting down and I lost my job in Toyota. I was lucky, however, to have been hired by former Vice President Emmanuel Pelaez in his law office.

As a non-lawyer this is where I had a baptism of fire surrounded by prominent law practitioners and retired justices of the Supreme Court, leading to our support for Senator Salvador Laurel running as president under UNIDO in the snap election against President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.

Events started galloping and after the EDSA One, President Corazon Aquino appointed Pelaez as ambassador to the United States, and I, as his special assistant and press attaché of the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC.

I served in the Philippine diplomatic mission for about seven years. After which, shuttling between Washington and Manila, I engaged in consultancies, first with SBMA chairman Richard Gordon, and successively with Philippine Information Agency Director-General Honesto Isleta, Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo, Agriculture Secretary Luisito Lorenzo, again with Mr. Gordon as Secretary of Tourism, and Crispulo “Jun” Icban, when he was Press Secretary before he became editor-in-chief of The Manila Bulletin.

In 2016, I joined the campaign for Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr. On June 5, 2017 I had a crack at broadcast journalism and anchor of my own show Ang Maestro – The Unfinished Revolution, under a joint production agreement with Radyo Pilipinas starting with a two-hour early morning show over DZRB @738khz.

That was until 2022 when I became vice president of Asian Century Philippines Institute for Strategic Studies.

I was never connected with the Philippine Military Academy and have never cheated in an examination in school nor have I been an academic fellow in any foreign country.

Where I am coming from is 64 years of writing experience.

Definitions vital

The confusion surrounding the South China Sea debate is because sides discuss their points of view without properly defining their terms.

On the parochial points raised by Commodore Tarriela to the Tricom, I would like to enroll these remarks:

First, I have not said that the Philippines never had legal basis in asserting a West Philippine Sea. On September 5, President Aquino signed Administrative Order No. 29, “Naming the West Philippine Sea of the Republic of the Philippines, and for other purposes,” pursuant to Presidential Decree 1599 and Republic Act 9522.

It was not until November 7, 2024 when Republic Act 12064 formalized into law, that our maritime zones were defined and the West Philippine Seas was officially legislated.

Does this make the West Philippine Sea a matter of fact?

Yes, now a legal fact when it comes to our internal law.

No, when it comes to international law.

Up to this minute, the Department of Foreign Affairs has not produced any approval from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the International Hydrographic Organization and the United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names, as mandated by EO29 Section 4, thirteen years ago.

The available map released by NAMRIA is clearly marked “unofficial”.

Second, Mr. Tarriela says his dissenters say the WPS is not a primary concern.

Please allow me to call the attention of the committee to Pulse Asia surveys, the latest of which, I believe was June 17, 2024.

72%  Controlling inflation, among others

5%    Defending the integrity of Philippine territory against foreigner

I have always said this, not just in my discussions involving the South China Seas but also in policy matters affecting national security priorities.

Third, Mr. Tarriela has oversimplified the problem in the South China Sea. Philippines authorities have been blamed for escalating the tension in the South China Seas precisely because of actual videos of near to actual collisions, and not because vloggers are echoing Chinese narratives.

The commodore should be the first to acknowledge the “International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea” because after he was found with seven others to have cheated in an exam and violated the honor code of the Philippine Military Academy, a former general told me, he graduated from an obscure Fisher Valley College in Taguig City when he joined the Philippine Coast Guard. He was already in the PCG when he finished his baccalaureate degree as a merchant marine. In his X account, he has also claimed going for two maritime graduate studies in Japan.

Here is a simple illustration of Colregs “rules of the road” for the guidance of the Tricom.

A ship must give way to another crossing on his right or starboard side which is the lane for overtaking. Most if not all of the incidents involving a PCG or resupply ship were on the port or left side of a Chinese coast guard vessel. The pattern of Philippine vessels is to accelerate instead of standing on, overtake the CCG and once slightly ahead, cut the CCG to the right risking a collision. If that is not fishing for a false flag at sea,  I don’t know what is.

I cannot imagine a PCG commodore not knowing this Colregs 101 taken in all navy and maritime schools during the first semester.

Rule of thumb

Fourth, he complains about a “fear” factor.

But isn’t this why in order to forestall any further escalation after a Philippine Navy personnel lost a thumb, on July 2, 2024, the Department of Foreign Affairs convened its 9th Bilateral Consultation Mechanism meeting with the Chinese embassy.

The Philippine side requested that the long-standing protocol from President Estrada up to President Duterte, in the resupply mission to our troops in the Ayungin Shoal be revived, after that incident.

President Marcos Jr. tried to ignore at first but after seeing the impossibility of supplying our marines at the BRP Sierra Madre without such protocol, he finally yielded on the condition that the details of his agreement be kept away from public knowledge.

In contrast, President Duterte right away saw the wisdom that if we don’t talk to the Chinese in the South China Sea, the only logical conclusion is war.

Fifth, Mr. Tarriela must explain to us the rationale of the PCG patrolling beyond our 12 nautical miles territorial sea which I consider a great loss of taxpapers money because of the fuel they waste over such useless missions.

Take the April 6 case of a near collision between our coast guard vessels and their Chinese counterparts., in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal.

According to Tarriela, the PCG’s 44-meter patrol vessel BRP Cabra was heading to the southwest part of Scarborough Shoal, when China Coast Guard (CCG) 3302 started shadowing the ship some 95 nautical miles west northwest of Capones Island, Zambales, 

Our territorial sea beyond the Zambales coastlines extends to only 12 nm or 13.8 miles. What was BRP Cabra doing 83 nm beyond that?

I can however surmise why the Chinese Coast Guard challenged  BRP Cabra’s  presence there as that is almost 29 nm off Scarborough Shoal, coming too close or 17 miles to Chinese-controlled 12 nm territorial sea.

This is why it is not wise to overplay the 2016 arbitral ruling as a victory, a landmark victory at that.

For Tarriela’s continuing education, the ruling declared under Article 121(3) of UNCLOS that Scarborough Shoal is not an island so it does not generate a 200 nm exclusive economic zone, but it is a rock that is capable of being claimed for sovereignty and entitled to a 12 nm territorial sea.

In customary law, China has sovereignty over Scarbough Shoal, by virtue of effective control, ever since we abandoned the area ending a 2012 standoff.

 Last December, in compliance with Article 84 of the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, China submitted to the United Nations a statement on the baselines of its territorial sea which included a chart showing the Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal as part of its territorial waters.

When affirmed by the UN Secretary-General and published by the International Hydrographic Organization, China’s sovereignty over the shoal is sealed and vouchsafed by UN recognition.  

Read also: PH Coast Guard official’s ‘reckless, baseless’ claims on South China Sea refuted

https://www.manilatimes.net/2025/04/09/news/ph-coast-guard-officials-reckless-baseless-claims-on-south-china-sea-refuted/2088994

Advice to amateurs

Sixth, that in order for Tarriela and NSA spokesman Jonathan Malaya to enjoy credibility while performing their functions, they must not assume that they are to be believed because of their government positions alone.

They must not engage in dismissive statements which when verified could be found lacking in gravitas. They must show proof for their allegations and talk to people and not over their heads. Instead of rash judgments and false generalizations pointing to the other party as always wrong, they must learn to process their messages in stages.

They must be open to corrections and being pubic figures, they should not be onion-skinned to criticisms, especially because for the past two years, they have been validated themselves as non-experts in the field they are performing. Besides, the buck does not stop at their level. 

Arrogance is the antithesis of public trust.

I for one, receive many calls and messages from unknown vloggers and social media friends who ask me for footnotes for or even give challenges against some of my assertions.  I am just too happy to provide them my references and additional clarifications.

Finally, they should not merely drown the readers with phrases like “in accordance with international law”, but cite the appropriate international law and what pertinent provisions apply; like what Sass Rogando Sassot, Anna Malindog Uy and myself do.

Another liability that Tarriela and Malaya suffer from is that according to the latest Publicus survey, the present government only enjoys 15% approval rating as the President’s net trust rating plummeted down to negative 49%, after deducting his 14% trust from his 63% distrust, the lowest in Philippine history.

Their blame game will also not work because after almost two years of banging their heads on the wall trying to making their narrative fly, the ordinary Filipino does not really know why they are doing it and what benefit the people can derive from it.

The transparency campaign Tarriela cooperated with US Naval Institute’s Raymond Powell as handler, just fell apart from its sheer weight and irrelevance.

In a country now faced with a hunger rate highest at 27.2% since 1998, outside of the Covid pandemic, I think the general public cannot just accept that the West Philippine Sea is edible. #

   

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