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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Choose right leaders in 2028 polls, Pinoy youth urged amid West PH Sea issue

Choose right leaders in 2028 polls, Pinoy youth urged amid West PH Sea issue

Published Feb 26, 2026 10:47 pm
Filipino fishing boats are monitored at Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea during an aerial search of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Oct. 6, 2022. (Photo: PCG)
Filipino fishing boats are monitored at Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea during an aerial search of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Oct. 6, 2022. (Photo: PCG)
One of the biggest contributions of the Filipino youth in the country’s fight to assert sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea is to go out and vote in the 2028 national elections, an official of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.
Not just go and vote. According to PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela, the Filipino youth voters must choose the candidate that will protect the interest of the country on the issue.
“The biggest responsibility is to go out and vote, carefully select national leaders, members of the Senate and the district representatives. That is your biggest contribution,” Tarriela told students in a recent youth forum.
“Let us stop the practice of voting for candidates because they gave us groceries and noche buena items. That is not their money, that is our money. We have to make sure that they will no longer fool us,” he added.
During the forum, Tarriela emphasized the role of the Filipino youth is sustaining the fight to ensure that not a single inch of Philippine territory is lost to foreign powers amid the the West Philippine Sea issue. 
Amid the disinformation drive on social media, which Tarriela described as intended to weaken the position of the Philippines on the issue, he said the youth must stand up and push back.
And right now, there is a need to ensure the continuity in asserting the country’s sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea through the Filipino youth especially amid the disinformation drive that has been targeting Filipinos themselves.
“The West Philippine Sea is not disputed, it is ours. How can we convince the Chinese government that the West Philippine Sea is ours if we even doubt our own position,” said Tarriela.
Quoting former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio, the official said the fight for the West Philippine Sea is intergenerational—which means that the issue will not be resolved in the matter of years and even decades.
“The reason we need to reach out to more people, to be more educated, to be more aware of what we are fighting for is because the issue of the West Philippine Sea will never go away that early, not even in our lifetime,”said Tarriela.
“This will be an issue that will be passed on to the next generation. And the important thing that we need to do right now is to hold the line to make sure that the younger generation still have a West Philippine Sea to stand on,” he stressed.
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