• 2 months ago
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Transcript
00:00We still have the water bombing and bombing of China in the B-4 ship BRP Datu Sandai. We will talk to Commodore J. Tariella, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea. Good morning.
00:14Hello sir. Good morning to you and to all of your listeners.
00:18Within a week, there have been two incidents of harassment in the Escoda Shoal. I think it was transferred from Ayungin to Escoda. Why is China heating us up there?
00:29First of all sir, this is just the tip of the iceberg why China is overreacting to the Escoda Shoal.
00:39This is the deployment of Teresa Magbanua since April. For so many months, they are asking and criticizing the presence of the Philippine Coast Guard vessel there.
00:51They are saying that this is semi-grounded and this will be a forward deployment base.
01:00They even filed a diplomatic protest asking us to remove our Teresa Magbanua in the Escoda Shoal.
01:08Every time that a ship will pass through here, whether it's Philippine Coast Guard vessel or even B-4 vessel,
01:16if we look at the last incident of BRP Cape and Ganyo and BRP Magacay, it just passed with a distance of 20 nautical miles away from Sabina.
01:30Now yesterday, they will go from a distance of 14 to 7 nautical miles.
01:40This is the extent of the deployment of the Chinese Coast Guard to stop the B-4 vessel.
01:47We can just assume that the reason why China is overreacting is because they believe in their own paranoid narrative
01:57that we have a reason to reinforce the presence of Teresa Magbanua.
02:04But is BRP Datu Sanday without an escort of Philippine Coast Guard? Is it different if they have a PCG?
02:18Actually sir, BRP Datu Sanday has a B-4 vessel.
02:26These two B-4 vessels left Orion Bataan, went to Pagasa and then eventually went to Hasa-Hasa.
02:35They separated from Pagasa because the other B-4 vessel went to Iroquois Reef, in Rizal Reef, in Recto Bank.
02:45This one went to Hasa-Hasa. Eventually, they are going to meet up while they proceed to their home port in Bataan.
02:54Regarding your question sir, would it be a different scenario if there is a Coast Guard vessel that is with them?
03:03I don't think it will change the behavior of China Coast Guard.
03:07As I said sir, last week, our two Coast Guard vessels went to Hasang Binangga, China Coast Guard vessel.
03:15So it doesn't really make any difference if there is a Coast Guard vessel that is with the B-4.
03:22Despite this, our humanitarian mission is still going on in Escoda Shoal?
03:27Yes sir. As Ian said earlier, the B-4 vessel is in cooperation with the Philippine Coast Guard.
03:34We are still doing humanitarian mission to get help to our Philippine miners.
03:40That's in Escoda Shoal. But even in other areas where we can see that there are Filipino miners who are working here,
03:49they are going to the B-4 at the Philippine Coast Guard sir.
03:53China's aggressive behavior is different. It depends on the DFA if it's another protest.
04:01But wouldn't the mutual defense treaty be used in this case?
04:08Well, I would trust the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines to decide on this.
04:16For the DFA of course, they also are responsible in the diplomatic approach of our government.
04:25They also have authority when it comes to this kind of strategy sir.
04:29Yes. Our countrymen are noticing that this situation is normal.
04:38Well, I wouldn't say it's going to normalize in a way that our Filipino countrymen can get used to.
04:45If you're going to look at the social media comments sir, for me, with this incident that we're showing to our Filipino countrymen,
04:56the patriotism of our Filipino countrymen is increasing.
05:03It's infuriating and you can feel that they are wanting for the government to do more.
05:10But we cannot blame them.
05:12But the mere fact that our Filipino countrymen want to participate in the West Philippine Sea,
05:19it means we are still getting the benefit of the transparency effort.
05:25For the international community as well, every time we publicize this kind of provocative and unlawful activities of the Chinese Coast Guard,
05:34we also pressure the like-minded states to do more and contribute more,
05:40to compel China to respect the international law and to stop these provocative actions that they're doing in the West Philippine Sea.
05:48National Heroes Day. Long live to the Philippine Coast Guard and Philippine Navy. Be careful.
05:53Thank you Comrade Jake Tariela, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea.
05:58Thank you sir.
06:18.

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