Tarriela to PMA cadets: Keep West Philippine Sea above partisan politics
BAGUIO, Philippines – Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Jay Tristan Tarriela, one of the prominent voices on the country’s maritime dispute with China, urged future military leaders to keep the West Philippine Sea above partisan politics, saying the defense of the country’s maritime rights was a national duty.
Rear Admiral Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, and Philippine Military Academy Superintendent Michael Logico also warned cadets about disinformation increasingly shaping public understanding of the maritime dispute, saying discussions on the West Philippine Sea should focus on national interest rather than political loyalties.
Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, told cadets at Fort Del Pilar that defending the country’s maritime rights goes beyond political loyalties or administrations.
“The WPS is not an issue about politics. It is our obligation, patriotic duty, and responsibility,” Tarriela told cadets at Fort Del Pilar, adding that the country must continue standing up for its rights so future generations “will still have a WPS.”
Tarriela spoke to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class cadets on Monday, August 10, as part of courses under PMA’s Department of National Security Studies. He discussed developments in the West Philippine Sea and the government’s use of transparency to bring incidents at sea to the attention of the Filipino public and the international community.
During an open forum, Lieutenant General Logico said face-to-face discussions are increasingly important amid what he described as a “massive disinformation effort” surrounding national security issues.
“We have [been seeing] a massive disinformation effort happening now. And the only way to combat this disinformation is to have these face-to-face discussions,” Logico said.
Like Tarriela, he cautioned cadets against allowing discussions on the West Philippine Sea to descend into partisan politics, drawing a distinction between being apolitical and being non-partisan.
“Have you heard the saying that the AFP must remain apolitical? Mali ’yun (That’s wrong),” Logico said. “The correct way to frame that is that we must be non-partisan.”
Logico said members of the military should understand policymaking and governance because these involve questions of national interest that directly affect them, and must avoid partisan politics and loyalties based on political or regional identities.
“My parents were born in the Visayas. I grew up in Luzon, but I nearly died in Mindanao. Where is my loyalty? Where my parents were born? Where I was raised? Or where I nearly died? My loyalty is for the entire country,” Logico told the cadets.
Tarriela, meanwhile, discussed the government’s transparency initiative, which makes public encounters and developments in the West Philippine Sea. The approach has helped increase public awareness, strengthen international support for the Philippines, and encourage cooperation with like-minded countries.
Logico stressed that the policy should not be viewed as choosing one foreign power over another, but as advancing Philippine interests and supporting a rules-based international order and a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The event was part of PMA’s effort to expose cadets to contemporary security issues beyond classroom instruction as the Armed Forces shifts greater attention toward external defense.
For the cadets, the message from both officials was clear: the West Philippine Sea is a national security issue they may one day be called upon to confront as military officials. – Rappler.com
