By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Part 6: A Nation with Many Strange Voices

In Charlie Chaplin of the United States; Luis Garcia Berlanga of Spain, Mario Moreno Cantinflas of Mexico; and Raj Kapoor of India, we see marginalized, subaltern figures portrayed on-screen and stylized by the spirited agent of humor, rendering social commentary through a corpus of movies from 1910 to the 70s.

The antithesis of these characters in the twenty-first century Philippines is a spokesman in uniform who has become the story, instead of his official narrative.

To be more descriptive, this is a scenario where a designated representative, assigned to deliver official, serious, or important information, instead becomes the central, chaotic focus of public attention due to his unprofessional, absurd, and scandalous behavior.

Definitely, he is neither a marginalized underdog as reflected by a high rank in government law enforcement, suggesting possession of power.

As self-proclaimed doom and gloom prophet in the Philippine Coast Guard, he has been propagating tall stories about China-Philippine relations for more than three years now, freely using the mantra “sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” but intentionally denying the public their asymmetrical meanings.

The outcome often appears in political, social, and media contexts, with a semblance of a ‘clown show’ or a ‘circus’ where the messenger’s incompetence or theatrics overshadows the message itself.

On January 14, 2026, PCG Commodore Jay Tarriela posted AI-generated caricatured photos of China President Xi Jinping as his background in a forum at De La Salle St. Benilde, as he made his case before college students.

The on-screen photos depicted Xi fuming in anger, flexing his muscles, and even holding a wooden boat with a Philippine flag. The overhead title read “Why China remains to be a bully”.

My Facebook post on this issue landed in less than 24 hours, almost 33,000 views, with over 600 reactions, 97 comments and 97 shares and 8 saves.

Two days after, Beijing’s embassy in Manila lodged a diplomatic protest over what it described as Tarriela’s serious violation of China’s political dignity and a blatant political provocation, which has crossed the red line.

“China expresses strong indignation and strongly deplores this, and has lodged solemn representations with Malacañang Palace, the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Philippine Coast Guard,” the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy is also seeking clarification on whether Tarriela’s remarks “against China and the Chinese leader” represent the stance of the Philippine government.

But on January 21,the Department of Foreign Affairs issued the following doublespeak that merely gave him a slap on the wrist:

“In a response made recently by the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, the DFA affirms its support for publicly-elected officials and government institutions performing their lawful duties in defense of Philippine sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

“The DFA reiterates that differences between states are best addressed through established diplomatic channels, rather than public exchanges.

“In firm and consistent fashion, the DFA will continue to articulate the Philippine positions on the West Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.

Tarriela is not an elected official.

Third Eye

Carlo Manubag, in his January 24 column ‘The Third Eye’ in The Mindanao Journal, called it ‘Deception as Statecraft’ asked “What exactly is PCG spokesperson Jay Tristan Tarriela trying to achieve by spewing distorted narratives, insults, and outright lies against China and President Xi Jinping—at a time when the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Tourism (DOT) are desperately working to approve e-visas and a two-week visa-free entry for Chinese nationals?

“The contradiction is glaring, and the hypocrisy is deafening.”

He got it point-on: “On one hand, the Marcos administration is quietly courting Chinese tourists, fully aware that pre-pandemic Chinese arrivals generated over USD 2.5 billion in tourism revenues, sustaining hotels, transport workers, restaurants, and small businesses. On the other hand, its loudest mouthpieces are allowed—if not encouraged—to provoke, insult, and demonize the very country whose citizens the government is begging to return.

“This is not foreign policy. This is incoherence dressed up as patriotism.”

Manubag continues, “If the administration truly believes that antagonizing China is necessary, then it should have the spine to abandon its tourism ambitions outright. But it won’t—because the economy is fragile, the deficit is widening, and the promises of ‘economic recovery’ ring hollow without foreign inflows. So instead, the government plays both sides: friendly behind closed doors, hostile on the microphone.

“What we are witnessing is not strength—it is desperation.”

The writer from South Philippines explained, “These attacks are not acts of bravery or principle; they are excuses clothed as ‘deception’, deployed whenever the administration is criticized for its failures: rising prices, stagnant wages, mounting debt, and zero meaningful reforms. When governance falters, distraction becomes policy.”

Manubag breaks it down:

“This is the formula:

“Create an external enemy.

“Amplify fear and outrage.

“Brand critics as unpatriotic.

“Distract the public from incompetence.”

The Third Eye concludes “Jay Tristan Tarriela’s rhetoric is not accidental—it is symptomatic. He is merely executing a script handed down by an administration that prefers noise over accountability, spectacle over solutions and deception over responsibility.

“Plain and simple, this is irresponsibility elevated to state behavior. You cannot insult your way into economic recovery. You cannot provoke your way into diplomatic credibility. And you certainly cannot deceive a public that is already struggling to survive.

“The Filipino people deserve consistency, honesty, and competence—not propaganda masquerading as ‘nationalism’.”

Definitely not a first

This is not Tarriela’s first serious indiscretion. His yarn started when he was designated spokesman of the National Task Force on West Philippine Sea.

In fact, his attention was called by DFA Secretary Teresa Lazaro last July 2025 when he attended a symposium in Taipei discussing “China’s hybrid warfare” and other geopolitical issues hosted by Taiwanese President Ching Lai-te.

Tarriela confesses in this video that his visit was also about security issues, and that his intention in going to Taiwan was to highlight ‘China’s bullying and aggression’ and megaphone it to the world. He claimed his presence as being ‘academic’ distinguishing it from his active duty as a PCG commodore.

In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, Philippine Foreign Secretary (serving then as undersecretary) Teresa P. Lazaro admonished Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and defense officials from Tarriela’s engaging in actions that “cause severe diplomatic complications that could derail efforts to stabilize our bilateral relations with China”.

When we asked Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan for his explanation, the only thing he told us through channels, was that the commodore has been seconded to the NTFWPS under NSA Eduardo Ano who obviously tolerates his loose-cannon narratives.

It appears that he does not command any following and respect even within the Coast Guard ranks, as most personnel regard him as the male counterpart of slime-machine Undersecretary Claire Castro in the Presidential Communications Office.

Event organizer?

One of the high PCG officials also leaked out to this writer that they had nothing to do with the December 12, 2025 pseudo-fishing excursion of 300 fishermen in 15 fishing boats at Sabina Shoal (PH – Escoda) escorted by the BFAR and two PCG patrols, where two ‘fishermen’ were hurt.

A Philippine Navy commodore also confirmed that the ‘operation’ was a private project of Tarriela and Raymond Powell of the US Naval Institute fronted by a Standford-based organization nicknamed “Gordian Knot”.

A day before the Sabina Shoal incident, President Marcos said China is one of the Philippines’ most important friends and partners in the world, in receiving the credential of new Ambassador Jing Quan:

“I’m sure that there will be many opportunities for us to make the relationship between our two countries stronger, deeper and more important as the years go by.”

Well, Manubag is correct – not with Tarriela’s anti-Xi Jinping derogatory visuals sabotaging the initiatives of Secretary Lazaro to woo Chinese tourists by providing a 14-day visa-free visits to the Philippines, complementing the hardwork Secretaries Cristina Frasco and Aldeguer Roque has been exerting to cure the dismal performance of their departments in tourism, trade and investments.

Caught cheating

In defending his personal smear campaign on China’s president Xi, he claims he is protected by the Vienna Convention, another tall story from a wayward man in uniform who could not even graduate from the Philippine Military Academy. Tarriela was exposed by then Major Edgard Arevalo, PMA spokesman to have violated the institution’s honor code as he was caught together with 7 other cadets, cheating in their Management Science examinations.

Tarriela’s defense? I was not kicked out; I resigned from the PMA.

According to PCG sources, the only school that accepted Tarriela to ‘finish’ his undergraduate was some obscure Fisher Valley College in Hagonoy, Taguig before he pursued maritime studies elsewhere.

Tarriela has also been allegedly bruiting around that he intends to run in 2028 as congressman in Mindoro running on a pro-Taiwan, anti-China platform hued with ‘patriotic’ messages. However, a sitting solon also surnamed ‘Tarriela’ has been indicted in the Cabral files as one of the fat beneficiaries of billions of insertions in the 2003, 2004 and 2025 national budgets.

The PCG commodore’s latest fiasco has nothing to do with Philippine position in the South China Sea. Engaging in black propaganda against another country’s head-of-state is not only awkward, uncouth and clownish. It manifests lack of breeding.

At the St. Benilde forum, the story was never any official narrative, the story was Tarriela becoming a central figure in a diplomatic dispute between Manila and Beijing, with critics arguing his aggressive messaging has transformed from effective transparency into a ‘diplomatic liability’.

            He even lied about directly mentioning Xi Jin Ping’s name and implicating him in his boorish discourse.

Taiwan connections

            Another visitor to Taipei, this time Risa Hontiveros, comes to the rescue of the coast guard turned comedian. The senator even had a selfie with then President Tsai Ing-wen coddling a pussy on May 12, 2023.

            The senator issued this statement, “While I am here in Taiwan… I cannot help but raise an urgent issue that looms large over the Philippines – the external threat posed by China in our territories, a similar dilemma Taiwan also faces”- discussing security and geopolitical issues in excess of our existing protocol with Taiwan.

During the Tsai-Hontiveros tete-a-tete, the senator smeared China sharing the yarn that “China’s intimidation, threats, and harassment are a daily (!) occurrence that Filipino fisherfolk and Philippine Coast Guard personnel experience, adding that the tensions in our own seas have deprived our fisherfolk of their livelihood, especially since Chinese vessels have constantly shooed them away, at times even confiscating their bountiful catch.”

“I will work on taking tangible steps in the Philippine legislature… underscoring that the Taiwanese people should have the basic human right to self-determination.” Wasn’t that another word for independence?

                        Senator Hontiveros and President Tsai of Taiwan

Bad guest?

But last week, the Akbayan senator posted this in her Facebook: “China is being a bad guest dito sa Pilipinas. Dapat magpakita sila ng respeto sa kanilang host country, sa atin.” (China is being a bad guest in the Philippines. They should show respect to us, their host country.)

Prominent ace-vlogger CJ Hirro did not let this pass telling Hontiveros to “stop excusing Tarriela’s misconduct to feed (her) anti-China quote-card quota, in a sobering rebuke:

“With all due respect, Senator, if the Chinese Coast Guard in China publicly mocked President Marcos by turning him into a meme in an official presentation, would you not expect our ambassador in Beijing, Jaime A. Flor Cruz, to react the same way the Chinese Embassy in Manila reacted to what Tarriela did?

“The Chinese Embassy responded the way any embassy would when a head of state is ridiculed and the person responsible then tries to deny or downplay it despite clear evidence.

“What Commodore Tarriela did was unnecessary, undiplomatic, and disrespectful…this was not without consequences. China has formally summoned Ambassador Flor Cruz, with China’s Foreign Ministry demanding that the Philippines undo the “negative impact” of Tarriela’s actions ASAP.

“Also, calling the Chinese Embassy a “guest” is legally and diplomatically inaccurate. An embassy is the official representation of a sovereign state, operating in the host country under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, to which the Philippines is a party.

“(Chinese diplomats are not ) visitors enjoying hospitality at our discretion, and it is not expected to remain silent when its head of state is publicly mocked by an official of the host government.

“When an embassy responds to an incident involving disrespect toward its head of state, it is not being a “bad guest.” It is performing its core diplomatic function, which is to protect the dignity of its state and respond through formal channels.

“Apply one standard. If respect is what you demand from others, then respect is what we must show, especially in official settings.”

DFA position explained

Hontiveros also wrote the Department of Foreign affairs, to which she got this official clarification from Secretary Lazaro:

Conclusion

As against the mainstream media spin, and that of charlatan Claire Castro, President Ferdinand Marcos and the Department of Foreign Affairs have not condoned Tarriela’s lack of breeding.

Worse, the offender refuses to apologize and compounds the damage he has created with lies to stonewall his wrongdoing. He even heralds other village idiots to backstop his cannibal instincts with more irrationality?

My take, however. is if he is not sanctioned by our government, like being fired, China might look for other options to save face.

Next: Roots, Rise, Revival of Japanese Neo-Militarism creates Regional Dissonance

   

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