West Philippine Sea: Tarriela Urges Filipinos to Shed a ‘Defeatist Mindset’

Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela used National Heroes’ Day to urge Filipinos to reject what he called a defeatist attitude toward the country’s fight for sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.

“Let us shed our defeatist mindset, because defeatism never represented what our heroes stood for,” Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson for the disputed waters, said in a statement. He added that the question facing the country’s heroes was whether Filipinos deserved to be free, not whether they could defeat the powerful conquerors of their history.

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Let us shed our defeatist mindset, because defeatism never represented what our heroes stood for.

Tarriela also answered the latest remarks from the Chinese Embassy, saying they “sound like a broken record.” He described the statements as repetitive and said they offered nothing new while defying logic, legal argument and, at times, common sense.

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The only question they lived to answer was whether we deserved to be free as a nation, not whether we could defeat the powerful conquerors of our history!

The latest exchange focused on Ayungin Shoal, also known as Second Thomas Shoal. The Philippine naval outpost BRP Sierra Madre has remained grounded on an elevated part of the shoal since 1999. The Chinese Embassy reiterated its claim of “indisputable” sovereignty after China’s Ministry of National Defense called on Manila to tow away the warship.

Tarriela said the Sierra Madre is a commissioned Philippine vessel within the country’s exclusive economic zone. He said resupplying the personnel aboard was lawful and humanitarian and required no other country’s permission. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, while Manila brought the dispute to international arbitration. In 2016, an arbitral tribunal affirmed Philippine sovereign rights within its 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone and rejected China’s broad claims.

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Repetitive, offering nothing new, yet never tiring of the replay, defying logic, legal argument, and at times even common sense.