Tarriela slams Marcoleta over West Philippine Sea remarks

MANILA, Philippines — Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta’s remarks on the West Philippine Sea did not sit well with the designated Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson on matters regarding the western section of the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, denounced Marcoleta’s remarks during a House tri-committee hearing on the prevalence of fake news on Tuesday.

“There is nothing [sic] as West Philippine Sea,” Marcoleta said during the hearing probing online misinformation. “This is a creation by us.”



READ: WPS spokesperson: 3 Chinese Navy vessels leaving EEZ

In direct response to this, Tarriela said, in a post on X (formerly Twitter), said: “Hearing someone claim that the ‘West Philippine Sea’ is merely a fabrication of the Philippine government is a disservice and an embarrassment to their entire party, the organization they belong to, and even their own family.”

Tarriela continued: “How can one face the younger generations today and tell them that our Exclusive Economic Zone to the west of our archipelago is nonexistent, effectively giving up the fight to assert their rights as Filipinos in the West Philippine Sea?”

During the same hearing, Marcoleta also claimed that there is no West Philippine Sea on the country’s maps.

“The complications of the West Philippine Sea have not been explained to our people,” Marcoleta further said.

In 2012, President Benigno Aquino III signed an administrative order renaming South China Sea waters within the western section of the country’s EEZ as the West Philippine Sea.

READ: It’s official: Aquino signs order on West Philippine Sea

Contrary to Marcoleta’s claims, Aquino also directed the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority to produce and publish charts and maps of the Philippines showing the West Philippine Sea.

The late president made such a move in a bid to further assert Manila’s sovereign rights.

It was during Aquino’s term when Manila brought Beijing before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands to contest the latter’s sweeping claims in the South China Sea.

In July 2016, an international tribunal ruled heavily in favor of Manila while effectively invalidating Beijing’s then-nine-dash line — now “ten-dash line”—claim.

(2025/02/04-21:50)