Tarriela: I don't deserve to be disrespected, maligned by Sen. Alan Cayetano

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela on Tuesday cried foul over the remarks of Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano against him during the interpellation of the proposed Senate Resolution No. 256

"I don't think na meron akong masamang ginawa para sa interest ng bayan para bastusin at babuyin ni Sen. Cayetano ang pagkatao ko," Tarriela said in an interview on Unang Balita. 

(I don't think I have done anything wrong for the interest of the people to make Sen. Cayetano insult and malign me.)

"Ang sabi niya kasi doon sa plenary debate, hubarin ko daw uniporme ko... Pwede rin naman, hubarin ko uniporme ko, mag-debate kayo, mag-usap kami ng mga bagay pero dapat no holds barred," he added. 

(He said during the plenary debate I should take off my uniform... That's okay, I'll take off my uniform; let's debate, let's talk about things, but there should be no holds barred.)

Tarriela's statement comes a day after Cayetano figured in a heated exchange over the former's use of a caricature depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping in one of his speaking engagements. 

Exchange

On Monday, Cayetano had an exchange with Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan ahead of the Senate’s adoption of proposed Senate Resolution No. 256, which denounces recent statements by the Chinese Embassy in Manila against Filipino government officials.

During the period of interpellation, Cayetano argued that the resolution should not be adopted if it appeared to support Tarriela’s actions and statements against Chinese officials.

“We cannot pass this resolution saying that Commodore Tarriela is correct because he’s wrong. If he simply stated, ‘I love the Philippines, I will fight for our territory, I’ll fight for our sovereign rights, I will do my duty—but sorry, dahil uminit ang ulo ko, nilabas ko ‘to, pero hindi official ‘yan,’ tapos tayo,” the minority leader said.

“The author of this resolution is saying, puwede. Kung ang official ng Presidente ay may certain decorum sa Presidente ng China, puwede ‘yung isang heneral na hindi sumunod. Ang sa kanya, bastusin natin ang Pangulo ng isang bansa,” Cayetano said.

(The author of the resolution is saying this is acceptable. If officials of the President are expected to observe decorum toward the President of China, it is supposedly acceptable for a general not to follow. What he is saying is that it is acceptable to insult the President of another country.)

Condemnation

Tarriela said he does not understand where Cayetano's "anger" was coming from, especially as Cayetano previously served as Foreign Affairs secretary during the Duterte administration.  

"Si Sen. Cayetano, hindi ko ma-get kung anong galit niya doon sa caricature, Pero when was the last time he expressed such passionate statement against the People's Republic of China? Or even issued condemnation ng office of the Senator Cayetano?" Tarriela asked.

"At the same time when he was the secretary of Foreign Affairs. And he talked about decorum and he talked about not mocking any national leader. What did he say during the time President Duterte, when he mocked President Obama, he said a lot of bad things against the Pope himself. So, hindi ko alam kung anong standard ni Sen. Cayetano with regard to China," added Tarriela. 

He also explained that the caricature was shown during a lecture to university students about the "incidents that are happening" in the West Philippine Sea.

"There are no international audience there and that is something na, ito'y dinidiscuss ko lang for academic discussion sa isang university," he explained. 

(There are no international audience there and that is something, I'm just discussing this for academic discussion at a university.)

GMA News Online reached out to Cayetano for comment and will publish it once available.

Signed

After nearly three hours of debate, the Senate amended the proposed resolution, which had earlier been signed by 15 senators, most of them from the majority bloc.

Under the resolution, senators urged the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to take the necessary diplomatic measures to uphold the dignity of the Philippines and ensure that relations with other states are conducted in accordance with international law and established principles of state relations. The Senate also condemned the recent public statements issued by the Chinese Embassy, describing them as “contrary to accepted standards of diplomatic conduct and mutual respect between states.”

Tarriela lauded the move of the Senate.

"Para sa akin, itong indication na ito clearly showed na meron pa ring integridad ang Senado and those very few people who are seemingly standing up for China, undermining our own position, does not represent the official stand of the Senate as an institution," said Tarriela.

(For me, this indication clearly showed that the Senate still has integrity and those very few people who are seemingly standing up for China, undermining our own position, does not represent the official stand of the Senate as an institution.) 

Chinese Embassy slams resolution

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy blasted the Senate resolution, calling it “anti-China.”  

In a statement on Tuesday, Embassy spokesperson Ji Lingpeng said that Philippine legislators had been twisting and misleading the public with facts and threats towards Chinese diplomats.

Among the Senate’s discussions regarding the resolution were declaring some key figures as persona non grata in the country and requesting replacement for Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Jing Quan.

The Chinese embassy rejected the resolution.

“Put it this way: if a foreign official spokesperson were to insult or attack the Philippine head of state, national heroes, or religious leaders, would they stay silent and pretend nothing happened? The said Senate resolution is nothing but a political stunt,” Ji said.

“They know little about how diplomacy works, yet they dare to undermine the efforts to improve China–Philippines relations by stirring up hatred and confrontation. What they’ve done is for their own political interest.  Such behavior only disgraces themselves. However, the price of their hypocrisy, ignorance, and recklessness, is paid by the ordinary people,” he added.

Ji said that there were two ways to deal with the issue, which was outright rejection and the continuous advancement of China–Philippines cooperation and exchanges.

“We choose both… No matter how many anti-China resolutions these people introduce, whether it’s 10 or even 100, it will not in the slightest weaken the Chinese embassy’s resolve to fight the malicious moves against China to the very end. Not a chance,” he said.

In a message to GMA News Online, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said that China’s response to the resolution violated the Vienna Convention, and only proved that they were bullies.

“We rest our case and reiterate our call for the DFA, the Department of Foreign Affairs to take the necessary diplomatic measures to uphold the dignity of the Republic of the Philippines and to ensure that relations with other States are conducted in accordance with international law and established principles of State relations,” he said.

Pangilinan was among the senators who had claimed that the Chinese Embassy had crossed the line “from legitimate expression of a foreign state’s views into interference in our domestic democratic debate.” — with Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/VAL/ AOL/BM, GMA Integrated News