THE projection of Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) for the West Philippine Sea, as the central figure in the current tensions between China and the Philippines has all the classic features of the making of an American Boy in Asia.
From whatever angle you view the guy, he strikes the public as the one single personification of what he bandies about as Philippine sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea.
An official council resolution by one barangay municipality, Kalayaan, declares Chinese ambassador Jing Quan persona non grata for demanding that the Philippine government hold Tarriela accountable for his “transparency efforts” in the West Philippine Sea.
Consider the obvious objective: get Filipinos mad at China. To do this, continuously hammer on the issue of China’s insistent assertion of sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea. Never mind that such hammering is a distortion of both the 2016 arbitral tribunal ruling and rules on compulsory arbitration of Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
Is it any wonder that when Sen. Kiko Pangilinan or Rep. Rufus Rodriguez rise to speak on the West Philippine Sea issue, what they say is not about truth or falsity but a mere furtherance of the Tarriela stand?
Tarriela surfaced when Raymond Powell began posting on X satellite images of the movements of the China Coast Guard (CCG) in the West Philippine Sea, describing the movements as Chinese intrusions into Philippine territory. Philippine mainstream media picked up the posts and ventilated them as news.
The fact is that both movements of the CCG and the PCG were standard operating procedures in enforcing their respective maritime laws.
Bear in mind that both China and the Philippines have claims of exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the area. In the exercise of sovereignty, they each have the right to implement their maritime laws — without yet determining up to where (Senator Marcoleta calls it “metes and bounds”) such sovereignty exists.
That at times there occur near-clashes between the CCG and PCG in their law-enforcement sorties in the area, these should be taken as a matter of course and at any rate subject to an agreed-upon diplomatic mechanism for settlement.
The problem arises when those very minor incidents are deliberately bloated to appear as belligerent skirmishes.
Take the case of the laser beaming incident early in the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Philippine media particularly played it up as a war act already, with the laser beams blinding, albeit temporarily, the crew of the PCG patrol boat.
Then-US secretary of state Antony Blinken immediately called for the application of the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) which mandates that an attack in the Pacific on either the United States or the Philippines is an attack on the other, which each is obliged to retaliate.
To the Philippines’ fortune, President Marcos exercised restraint, not considering the laser beaming as a war act. Otherwise, the Philippines would have been at war with China early in Bongbong’s administration.
What was virtually buried in the din of the incident was a clarification from the Chinese foreign affairs ministry that the laser beaming was a method used by the China Coast Guard in measuring distances at sea.
What happened was that, as in all the other instances of which Raymond Powell took satellite images and posted them on X, the laser beaming episode was picked up by Philippine mainstream media and widely disseminated as news about escalating tensions between China and the Philippines.
Powell is a former official of the United States Air Force, who established, and now serves as director of, the Sealight Project at Stanford University’s Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation.
He takes satellite images of the maneuvers of the CCG and the PCG in the West Philippine Sea and posts them on X for Philippine mainstream media to pick up and disseminate as news.
But the exemplary diplomatic work by past Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian must have frustrated Powell’s intentions such that at the end of his tour of duty, he left behind a legacy of “future oriented” diplomacy, which necessarily preempts any occurrence of belligerence between China and the Philippines.
Certainly, Ambassador Jing Quan should be happy with this legacy. But barely three months into the job, what surprised him was a media-popularized aspersion against him as persona non grata.
Why?
For defending China’s sovereignty and honor against wanton blasts by someone who turns out now to be the foremost Filipino nemesis of China — Jay Tarriela.
What happened?
Based on available media data, Powell and Tarriela have established a public professional relationship through their collaborative efforts to record Chinese maritime activities in the West Philippine Sea and propagate them as Chinese intrusion into Philippine territorial waters.
The two have appeared together on platforms such as Powell's "Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific" podcast, with a notable appearance by Tarriela in May 2024.
Their interactions appear centered on what they term as "transparency strategy" regarding the West Philippine Sea, with Tarriela frequently referencing data provided by Powell's SeaLight project to highlight what they invented as Chinese "gray-zone" activities — the term they use for an attack without the use of military action.
Of course, in warfare, what you use as a term for the enemy’s deception is what you yourself actually do to the enemy. In this respect, Tarriela perfectly serves the utility of advancing America’s own actual “gray zone” tactics against China.
In an article in the Indo Pacific Defense Forum titled “Exposing Coercion,” Powell admitted: “When the public is engaged, that means its legislators are engaged and want to do things that improve the Philippines’ position, such as increasing budgets for maritime services like the Coast Guard and Navy.”
According to Powell, the Philippines plans to add five 97-meter patrol vessels to its coast guard fleet by 2028 and is considering acquiring multirole fighter jets and midrange missile systems.
“All of those things are positive developments for the Philippines’ security situation, which come as a result of engaging and helping the public to understand why building maritime capacity is important,” Powell said.
Based on recent reports, Tarriela and the administration of US President Donald Trump operate in tandem through a mutual focus on strengthening the Philippines' defense capabilities and challenging what are clearly Chinese advances for the common good of the South China Sea region.
Tarriela has indicated that the Philippine strategy of ramping up defense spending and building a comprehensive archipelagic defense concept aligns with the Trump administration's broader goals for regional security.
As the PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea, Tarriela has consistently opposed efforts to label Philippines-US defensive efforts as provocative, framing them instead as necessary to uphold international law, a position that fits in with the broader US strategy in the Indo-Pacific.
One expert analysis goes so far as to assert that it would not be a stretch to imagine a Trump-Tarriela tandem.
“US President Donald Trump is generally known for a hawkish stance on China. Commodore Jay Tarriela is known for his vocal, public and firm stance against what he calls, tongue-in-cheek, “Chinese incursions.”
The analysis concludes, “Tarriela’s assertive, public campaign against China in the West Philippine Sea aligns well with a potential ‘America First’ or anti-China foreign policy from a Trump administration, making their cooperation a natural fit rather than a forced or unlikely scenario.”
