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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
February 10, 2026 | 10:58am
MANILA, Philippines — Much of the heated plenary debate on the Senate resolution against the Chinese Embassy’s statements targeting Philippine officials did not focus so much on the controversial remarks made by Beijing’s representatives, but on a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson.
PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela caught the ire of the Chinese Embassy in Manila after showing a caricature of President Xi Jinping during a campus seminar, and several Philippine senators have now also taken him to task.
The Senate recently drafted a resolution condemning the Chinese Embassy’s statements against Philippine officials—not just Tarriela. The PCG spokesperson was not even mentioned in the resolution.
Despite this, Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano zeroed in on Tarriela, calling his action unbecoming of a Philippine official and saying the Chinese representatives were only doing their job by responding.
“The guy should apologize and say na ‘tama pinaglalaban ko, pero mali na ginawa ko ng ganyan’,” Cayetano said.
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan, one of the signatories of the resolution, said it was not meant to defend Tarriela but to condemn the systemic propaganda campaign that the Chinese Embassy has directed at Philippine officials.
On top of the resolution not even mentioning Tarriela, Pangilinan said the Chinese Embassy has already publicly called out other officials and lawmakers who have reasserted the country’s claims over the West Philippine Sea, including Pangilinan himself, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, and House lawmakers Chel Diokno and Leila de Lima.
Cayetano sidestepped Pangilinan’s rebuttal, however, again focusing on the portion of the Senate resolution that says “Philippine officials, including members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and other government officials, made public pronouncements on matters affecting national sovereignty and maritime interest in the lawful performance of their official duties and functions”.
The minority senator questioned whether Tarriela’s act of showing a caricature of the Chinese president was part of his official duties and, in effect, representative of the government’s stance.
To which Pangilinan responded: Malacañang has not disowned Tarriela nor his statements.
“This resolution would not have happened if it was just [Commodore] Tarriela they were complaining about, but precisely because it is a systematic propaganda campaign to discredit our public officials, to discredit our armed forces,” Pangilinan said.
Despite the heated back-and-forth between Pangilinan and Cayetano resulting in two suspensions, the resolution against the Chinese Embassy’s statements was passed.
Senate President Pro Tempore Ping Lacson, the presiding officer during the Pangilinan-Cayetano exchange, called watching the affair “painful”.
“It was painful to watch a heated plenary debate on the issue of territorial integrity and other related matters involving another country and our own. It is hard to imagine that it can happen in the US Senate or any parliament in the world,” Lacson said on X.
Tarriela himself responded to Lacson, saying that the “West Philippine Sea is worth a heartbreak.”
“Just not everyday. Keep fighting!” Tarriela said in Filipino.
Senators defending China?
Several minority senators have drawn scrutiny for appearing to echo pro-China statements, some of which mirror propaganda lines used by Beijing to sow confusion over the West Philippine Sea dispute.
One recent example is Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who went viral for saying the Kalayaan Islands were not worth shedding blood for and suggesting they might be given up.
While Marcoleta has since backtracked and said his remarks were taken out of context, defeatism rooted in China’s military strength is a recurring narrative pushed by pro-China outlets and online trolls.
Marcoleta has also repeatedly questioned whether the Philippines has a clear definition of the West Philippine Sea, claiming there are no defined coordinates.
This is despite the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, to which the Philippines is a party, clearly stating that a country’s exclusive economic zone extends up to 200 nautical miles from its coast.
With the exception of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, none of the minority senators signed the resolution.
