Panayam kay Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG Spokesperson on the West PHL Sea (September 25, 2023) | UB - video Dailymotion

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Transcript

00:00 Illegal and dangerous are the floating barriers placed by the China Coast Guard in Scarborough Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc in the West Philippine Sea.

00:08 Let's talk to Commodore J. Tariella, PCG spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea. Good morning.

00:15 Good morning sir. Good morning to all the viewers.

00:20 The floating barrier that we saw earlier in Bajo de Masinloc, when was it placed by the China Coast Guard?

00:30 Well, according to the accounts of our fishermen that we interviewed while we were giving the relief,

00:39 it was placed by the China Coast Guard every time they monitor a large number of Filipino fishing vessels.

00:49 Every time they estimate that the number of Filipino fishing vessels in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc is increasing,

00:58 they place it immediately for them to be prevented from entering the lagoon inside Bajo de Masinloc.

01:05 But they used to fish there.

01:08 Well actually sir, the Filipinos used to fish here.

01:13 But as you're aware sir, after the 2012 standoff, the China Coast Guard left and took over Bajo de Masinloc.

01:24 But what's very important for us to highlight right now sir, for the past so many years,

01:30 it has been very difficult for the Philippine government vessels to enter at least one or two nautical miles in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc.

01:39 But because of our transparency initiative, which we also mentioned in our press release,

01:46 the China Coast Guard is now allergic every time it sees a Philippine government vessel.

01:53 Seeing our embedded media friends and journalists here, it was very easy for the B-4 vessel to enter again.

02:04 And then we anchored as close as 300 meters here in Bajo de Masinloc.

02:11 So this is very important for us to highlight that this is actually the first time

02:17 where a Philippine government vessel anchored at such a distance here in Bajo de Masinloc.

02:24 They say that the prohibition they put is dangerous. How dangerous is it?

02:33 Well, the prohibition is, according to what Sir Rafi showed us...

02:39 We're showing it to the viewers.

02:41 Aside from the thick mud, it has nets that are spread.

02:47 So the tendency for our Filipino fishermen is that they can eat from their propellers.

02:54 If their propellers are broken, it will be very difficult for them to come back to their province in Pangasinan or even in Zambales.

03:05 Commander Tariela, Senate President Juan Miguel Subira's PCG asked you to remove the floating barrier.

03:13 Well thank you for asking this question sir.

03:17 Many are asking on social media when we released the photos and we did the reporting about this,

03:23 why the coast guard or BFAR didn't remove it immediately or why it wasn't cut off immediately.

03:29 On the part of the Philippine coast guard, let me first clarify.

03:32 I think Filipino people should understand that there are some diplomatic issues that we need to do here.

03:42 We have yet to ask permission from the national government and of course from the commander-in-chief

03:49 what will be the final action on the part of the Philippine coast guard.

03:54 Our last mission, we just documented that there is really an existing barrier that the Chinese government is putting.

04:01 But as I said, we gave the report already to the national task force, West Philippine Sea,

04:07 wherein the Department of Justice, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of National Defense

04:11 are all part of this interagency task force, ensured by the national security advisor.

04:17 Should the NTFWPS would recommend to the president on what action we will take here,

04:26 the Philippine coast guard, BFAR and even the armed forces of the Philippines will comply

04:32 on what decision will be taken by our national government.

04:35 This is not a solo decision of the coast guard.

04:38 Yes sir.

04:39 Have you monitored other areas where the Chinese are putting a barrier or floating barrier?

04:45 Well so far sir, the only thing they are blocking is the Bahodimasin look

04:51 so that the Filipinos cannot enter the lagoon,

04:55 where this is the traditional fishing ground of our Filipino fishermen.

05:02 I would like to highlight sir Arnold,

05:06 because the columns of the newspaper were not mentioned in the past hours.

05:14 In the Bahodimasin look, this is actually considered as a rack.

05:18 Meaning, it generates a territorial sea of 12 nautical miles.

05:24 So in short, since the Bahodimasin look is inside the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines,

05:31 which only has a distance of 120 nautical miles, and this is a rack.

05:36 In short, we also have a territorial sea or we have sovereignty in the 12 nautical miles that the Bahodimasin look generates.

05:46 It's not just exclusive economic zone, but we have territorial sea over this.

05:52 Okay. Aside from the barriers, we also saw dead corals in Sandy Cay 2.

06:00 Is that from Rosul Ripo? We have evidence for that.

06:05 Well first of all, these corals, this report on Sandy Cay, sir, is just from a social media account.

06:18 It is already trending on social network.

06:22 But as far as the coast guard is concerned, as I said in my previous interviews, sir,

06:29 we are monitoring different maritime features in the West Philippine Sea.

06:35 It's not Rosul Reef or Sabina.

06:38 We have monitored here, but we're only allowed to publicly disclose this in the Rosul Reef and the Skoda Shoal.

06:49 So there's no solid evidence that the Chinese have also destroyed the coral reefs?

06:55 If we're talking about the Rosul Reef and Skoda Shoal, I'll go back to our press statement sir.

07:05 The destruction of corals here is circumstantial.

07:10 We can say that they are responsible because in the areas that were invaded by the Chinese maritime militia,

07:19 they are the only ones present here.

07:23 Thank you very much, Commander Jake Tariel, a PCG spokesperson on the West Philippine Sea. Take care.

07:29 Thank you very much sir.

07:32 Igan, for the latest news, subscribe to GMA Integrated News on YouTube.

07:37 For Kapuso Abroad, follow us on GMA Pinoy TV and www.gmanews.tv.

07:45 [Music]

Panayam kay Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG Spokesperson on the West PHL Sea (September 25, 2023) | UB

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