Battle of narratives

Nine years after it was rendered, the Philippines still fights for its victory in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling that thrashed the nine-dash-line claim of Beijing over the South China Sea (SCS). After it refused to participate in the PCA proceedings, China maintains its sovereign claims over the SCS.

It will be the 9th anniversary tomorrow of the Arbitral Ruling but Beijing still ignores it with impunity.

And the rest is a history of Chinese intimidations inside and around the 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines. We now have a collection of videos of China Coast Guard (CCG) ships “bullying” away Philippine ships and vessels with the use of water cannons and attacking the boats and seizing the catch of our Filipino fishermen. The CCG’s “monster ship,” surrounded by People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) vessels regularly show off China’s military might at the SCS.

Yet, China along with the Philippines are among the 168 other country-signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Maintaining its presence and control, CCG vessels and Chinese militia gunships patrol the entire stretch of the SCS.

A few years after the PCA ruling, all that we have to show for it is we officially designated our maritime territories as West Philippine Sea (WPS). From the Kalayaan Island Group in Palawan down to Bajo de Masinloc (a.k.a. Scarborough) in Zambales, it includes all the islands, reefs, atolls, shoals, sandbars and rocks around and within our country’s 200-mile EEZ.

There have been non-stop intrusions of CCG and PLAN ships and vessels into our maritime territories at the WPS. In fact, the Philippine Navy reported this week having monitored a total of 49 Chinese ships were spotted sailing around the WPS, including nine CCG and 14 PLAN vessels in Bajo de Masinloc; 12 CCG and 2 PLAN vessels in Ayungin Shoal; and, nine CCG and 3 PLAN vessels near Pag-asa Island.

On the eve of the anniversary of the Arbitral Ruling, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the WPS Commodore Jay Tarriela recalled China heightened its ICAD – or illegal, coercive, aggressive, deceptive – tactics after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) took over the helm of the Philippine government in June, 2022. Tarriela noted Beijing abused the pro-China policy shift observed by the past administration of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay last Wednesday, Tarriela proudly told us the tide has been going now in favor of the Philippines. Tarriela cited the Arbitral Ruling got a much-needed shot in the arm by the growing international call to action to support the Philippines in its WPS claims against China’s ICAD tactics.

In fact, he noted, more and more countries are expressing their support for the Philippine stand for its sovereign claims over the WPS. This he largely credited to the “transparency initiatives” launched by the Philippine government that documented the hostile behavior of China towards Philippine forces, he stressed.

Moreover, Tarriela pointed to two landmark statutes as having strengthened our country’s UNCLOS-guaranteed 200-mile EEZ. These laws were, namely, Republic Act (RA) 12064, or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act and RA 12065 or the Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act. Backed by the UNCLOS and the Arbitral Ruling, these twin laws were in accordance with the rules-based international order, he stressed.

The two new laws signed by PBBM on Nov. 8 last year were principally authored and shepherded in the 19th Congress by former Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino. Even while he was deep into his re-election campaign, Tolentino conducted Senate public hearings that looked into the reported China’s espionage attempts. Chinese-flagged drones and the police arrests of several Chinese nationals without proper travel documents caught allegedly snooping around the military bases in the Philippines were presented at the Tolentino-led hearing.

That was the last straw, so to speak, of Tolentino’s supposed “egregious behavior” as far as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China was concerned. Invoking its “sovereign rule,” Beijing banned Tolentino from entering any of its territories in China, Hongkong and Macau. To which Tolentino just shrugged off as a “badge of honor” in being banned in Chinese territories. Sadly, however, Tolentino lost his return bid at the Senate in the last May 12 mid-term elections.

Aside from travel ban against Tolentino, Tarriela denounced another form of diplomatic pressure employed by China in the case of the Chinese consulate in New Zealand that sought the removal of a Filipino documentary on the West Philippine Sea from future screenings of the prestigious Doc Edge Festival.

The local documentary “Food Delivery: Fresh from the West Philippine Sea” by director Baby Ruth Villarama was supposed to be screened at a festival last March before it was pulled out from the lineup.

Despite losing one of the “champions for the WPS” in the legislature, Tarriela remains “optimistic” on the new members of the 20th Congress would remain solidly behind the “transparency” policy of PBBM in handling the WPS dispute with China.

This we are seeing from the initiatives taken already by Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima who announced that she and several like-minded lawmakers formed a “West Philippine Sea bloc” in the House of Representatives.

De Lima further announced her group filed proposed bills on “National West Philippine Sea Victory Day” and “West Philippine Sea Mandatory Education Act of 2025,” and a House Resolution seeking to investigate sister city pacts with counterparts in China and to rescind arrangements “that are inimical to Philippine national security interest.”

Meanwhile, Tarriela awaits the investigation of his own cyber libel case he filed before the Manila Fiscal’s Office against a known pro-Duterte blogger. Himself very active in social media in staunch defense of WPS, Tarriela was attacked and labelled as a highly paid mouthpiece for American interests in the SCS.

Although the battle of narratives remains raging online and in social media platforms, we could only hope the hostilities will not escalate outside these peaceful exchange of words.