TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte (PIA) – The Filipinos from all walks of life anywhere in the world should stand for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), said Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson on WPS, Commodore Jay Tristan Tarriela.
In the December episode of Sayron Ta! Pakigsayod radio program, Tarriela called on the Dabaonons to join the crusade of advocating for the Filipino rights over the West Philippine Sea which is located within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines.
“I’m calling on all our kababayans in Davao del Norte, ang laban natin sa West Philippine Sea concerns everybody regardless where you are from. It’s not correct to say that WPS is too far from Davao del Norte. It’s not correct to say that we should not stand up for West Philippine Sea dahil hindi natin ito kayang ipanalo,” he said in a phone-patch interview.
He made the listeners understand that widely spreading the information about the Filipino rights over the WPS is anchored on the fact that the WPS is part of the Philippines.
“.. at kung parte ito ng Pilipinas, it is the obligation of the Philippine Government to inform each and everyone of us, kung ano ang nangyayari sa teritoyo natin (what is happening in our territory) and at the same time, we are also expected to carry out our responsibility na merong tamang impormasyon pagdating sa West Philippine Sea (that we should the right information when it comes the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
Rich marine and aquatic resources, WPS has been the fishing ground of Filipino fisherfolks. Natural gas can also reportedly be drawn from the Recto Bank which is also partof the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile, Tarriela admitted the difficulty of the Philippine government to unite the stand of the Filipino people on the WPS due to an orchestrated effort to sow false information about the WPS.
He asked Filipinos with social media accounts to react in favor of the Philippine stand on the West Philippine Sea.
“The mere fact na lahat ng Pilipino may social media, everytime makakita tayo ng fake news, misinformation, mag iwan tayo dito ng comment at sabihin natin, mali, kasi alam naman natin na the People’s Republic of China is spending so much of money for misinformation para ipag-divide tayo lahat at hindi tayo magka intindihan at hindi tayo magkaisa pagdating sa isyu ng West Philippine Sea.
(…every time we see fake news, disinformation, leave a comment and said that this is wrong because we know that the People’s Republic of China is spending so much of money for misinformation to divide us all and we’d have misunderstanding and we won’t get united on the issue on the West Philippine Sea),” he said
On the other, Tarriela assured that forging alliances with other countries worldwide on the WPS issue would not lead to war, saying China would be losing much if ever it would take a “kenetic” step to provoke arms exchange with the Philippine Armed Forces (AFP) guarding the WPS. (JMDA PIA XI)
