Embassy correcting Tarriela’s distortions is welcome news

FIRST, the good news. Last January 8, Chinese Embassy Deputy Spokesperson Guo Wei, in a social media post, publicly expressed recognition and gratitude to the medical assistance extended by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to a Chinese national apparently electrocuted on board a ship transiting the Basilan Strait. The expression of appreciation came on the same day of the incident or as soon the news reached Manila.

This expression of gratitude is a far cry from the reaction of the spokesman of the Philippine Coast for the West Philippine Sea Task Force (WPS-TF) Commodore Jay Tarriela, on the news of the Chinese Navy’s rescue of Filipino fisherman Larry Tumalis.

Tumalis was spotted by a passing Chinese Navy ship (Hull 174) on Christmas Day, December 25, 2025, holding up a sign with the words, “HELP ME” written in big capital letters. He has been adrift for 3 days after his engine conked out with no help in sight.

The PLAN ship immediately sent out a boat with provisions of water and food that were received with much gratitude by Tumalis (see also my column last December 30, 2025).

Imagine if the Chinese Navy did not pass by and spotted Tumalis—he could have drifted until he died of dehydration and starvation.

Our think tank and research group has been making the same points as Guo Wei for the past decade to help the public understand the facts and the truth surrounding our issues with China. However, our mainstream media, because of US influence, has shut us out.

The Chinese Navy also immediately communicated the situation to a Philippine Coast Guard crew thru radio.

There was a video footage of this fact between the PLAN and the PCG and yet, Tarriela, initially denied that such alert was communicated by the Chinese Navy.

As if in concert, our mainstream media carried and buttressed Tarriela’s anti-China rants.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer headlined it, “West PH Sea experts slam China’s ‘propaganda’ stunt loved by the ‘DDS.’” It also cited the ‘Atin ‘to’ group and ‘Akbayan,’ both anti-China, with the latter callously dismissing China’s humanitarian gesture to Tumalis as “propaganda.”

Tarriela, in his infinite shallowness, always makes a big issue out of our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) issue with China that he alleges China has repeatedly violated.

He is intellectually dishonest too in not disclosing that we have overlapping EEZ claims not only with China, but also with Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei.

He also always skips the fact that under UNCLOS and international law, all nations including their warships have freedom of navigation rights over the seas and the right of innocent passage even in territorial waters.

Thus, it is a welcome development that Guo Wei is now taking the time to ‘re-educate’ the pompous Tarriela about the facts and the laws.

Our think tank and research group has been making the same points as Guo Wei for the past decade to help the public understand the facts and the truth surrounding our issues with China. However, our mainstream media, because of US influence, has shut us out.

But with the Chinese Embassy now openly addressing the distortions of Tarriela and his gangmates, the mainstream media is now being task to carry China’s side or risk being exposed as part of the global ‘presstitutes’ whose job is to align with the “official narrative” of the West and their Overlord, US Imperialism, on any important issue.

This is why every Filipino should welcome the Chinese Embassy’s publicly asserting the facts and in exposing the distortions that the anti-China elements are spewing so they are not misled from hereon.

Or as the saying goes, ‘The truth shall set us free.’