FINDING ANSWERS

Amid the ongoing brouhaha over the alleged secret deal made with China on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) during the time of the previous administration, it’s a refreshing change to grasp just how effective the strategy of plain truth-telling is.

At last Friday’s special edition of Kapihan sa Manila Hotel that featured Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela and Climate Change Commissioner Albert Dela Cruz, the correctness of the transparency strategy presently in use concerning the WPS situation was clear.

Constantly exposing what is happening (the reported harassment tactics of the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) and maritime militia vessels within our country’s exclusive economic zone) has not only united the Filipino people against the aggression, but has also rallied immense support from the international community.

Telling the world about China’s activities and the degradation of the maritime environment in the WPS has resulted in more countries extending security cooperation and pledging support for modernization of our armed forces and capability-building of the PCG, Tarriela said.

More countries have extended support to provide satellite imagery of real time situation in WPS, using multiple satellites that can give a clear image of the Chinese vessels and their activities in the WPS, Tarriela explained.

He said the satellite imagery provided “helps us in strategically optimizing our limited assets to counter the illegal presence” of Chinese vessels.

The positive impact of the transparency strategy is shown whenever the swarming militia vessels disappear after their presence is publicized.

Another positive impact is the operational change resorted to by CCG vessels. Instead of following side to side a PCG vessel, making it difficult for it to maneuver as it patrols WPS, the Chinese ships now tail from behind our ships to stay away from embedded journalists or powerful high-definition cameras, he said.

To a question on why there are more Chinese vessels being documented more frequently if the transparency strategy is really effective, Tarriela said that in the past administration when the harassment was not publicized, there was no need for China to deploy more vessels. He said a defeatist attitude then prevented standing up to aggression for fear it might lead to war.

He said that the recent stance of China to portray embedded journalists as “troublemakers,” which was decried by various media groups particularly the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, simply means that our transparency strategy is effective.

For his part, Dela Cruz lamented that around 12,000 hectares of coral reefs have been degraded or destroyed. The environmental destruction in the WPS resulting from the massive damage to coral reefs—necessary for various species of fish to flourish—certainly threatens food security not only for our region but for other countries around the world as well.

The transparency strategy to let the whole world know of the real situation in the WPS, including the alarming environmental degradation, has prompted an intensified information operation — especially the use of social media in spreading fake news and wrong information, Tarriela said.

What can ordinary Filipinos do to counter this? Because most of us use social media, he said the patriotic thing to do is to fight online disinformation. “Please care to comment (on online posts) and call out the journalist, troll, or influencer posting wrong information, google the right information, and put the link in the comment so those who view the news feed will be educated and informed,” Tarriela said.

He’s certainly right when he stressed that all Filipinos are affected by the WPS issue and we owe it to the next generations to do our patriotic duty. Indeed, the fight to protect our rights should be waged not only by the PCG or the armed forces, but by all Filipinos. ([email protected])