By Herman Tiu Laurel

 

The tensions spun from the arbitration by the US Filipino proxies have cost the Philippines billions in goodwill with and infrastructure assistance from China

EX-US Air Force Col. Raymond Powell “Sealight” FB page posted a media advisory advertising himself for “interview requests” for the July 12,10th anniversary of the “sweeping victory over China’s claims in” the South China Sea.

Powell used the name that not the US itself does not even use or recognize for the disputed area but, of course, hides the fact.

The hilarious thing about this is the “ugly American” himself has to come out plugging for interviews and not just his quisling underlings Justice Carpio, RAdm. Tarriela, RAdm. Trinidad and other proxies.

Right from the very beginning we in July 2016 our policy institute had exposed what its apologists claim as the “UN Backed” arbitration suit at the Hague as a hoax, and we published a quote card or meme on social media exposing this, highlighted the image of the UN Secretary-General then Ban Ki-Moon and spokesman Stefan Dujarric and quoting the latter: “The UN doesn’t have a position on the legal and procedural merits of the case or on the disputed claims.”

This has never been given meaningful news space by mainstream media.

There are vital paragraphs in the arbitration ruling that demolishes the arbitrary claim of the Philippines to areas of the South China Sea but “paragraph 272” is most significant: “… the Tribunal emphasizes that nothing in this Award should be  understood to comment in any way on China’s historic claim to the islands of the South China Sea.”

US psyops information warfare adopted by Carpio and Philippine media, et al. omits this. China has always insisted its historic claims are anchored on land (island) territorial rights – not the Nine-Dash-Line.

 In June 2018 the Philippine Commission on Audit issued a memo questioning then President Noynoy Aquino about the P 700-million plus the Philippine government paid to American lawyer Atty. Paul Reichler and law firm of Foley Hoag LLP.

The whole story has never been told but apparently the arbitration case was conceived, prepared and argued all by the American lawyers and the Filipino taxpayer billed eventually other report say for  P1 billion and never fully explained by the government.

 The arbitration case has not gained on international recognition beyond token acquiescence of US client states.

The Philippines has not gained an inch of EEZ or territory. It only helped China justify its stronger assertion of its sovereignty over it while improving cooperation with other south China Sea claimants Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and others.

The tensions spun from the arbitration by the US Filipino proxies have cost the Philippines billions in goodwill with and infrastructure assistance from China -– to the satisfaction of the US.

 The arbitration award and EEZ claims is the basis for the 2023 Feb. introduction of the “assertive transparency” strategy in the second decade of the US “Pivot to Asia.”

The modus operandi is “provoke Chinese Coast Guard to take control measures to Philippine Coast Guard incursions into Chinese claims, take media video footage and reporters and blast at ‘China bully’.”

The aim, in Powell’s own words, is to “exact reputational cost on China,” but on July 15, 2024 Powell had to write an article titled “Transparency has not ‘failed’ the Philippines.

 If in 2024 there were already doubts about the efficacy of Powell’s “transparency strategy” where is it in 2026?

In May 2024 Adm. Alberto Carlos was roasted in the Senate for successful deescalation of tensions in BRP Sierra Madre Rotation and Resupply (RORE) missions after agreed “deescalation” with the Chinese embassy.

In Nov. 2024 President Bongbong Marcos already showed signs of skepticism and, at the San Francisco APEC, requested a sideline impromptu chat with President Xi Jinping for a deescalation.

 Powell’s goal of “exacting a reputational cost” on China has not worked at all as the 2026 EU-sponsored global survey Democracy Perception Index showed “63 out of 83 surveyed countries now view China more positively than the US, representing a major drop in American soft power.”

The report also said that in Southeast Asia “52 percent of regional respondents would choose to align with China over the US.”

On June 24, 2026 Powell posted a fund-raising event on his Sealight page.

   

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