Politics

Philippines-China sea dispute takes on authorized edge with cyber libel swimsuit

July 4, 2025

The Philippines’ maritime dispute with China has spilled into the courts after a high coastguard official filed a cyber libel case in opposition to a pro-Beijing influencer over explosive – and, he claims, baseless – allegations that he’s a paid asset of the USA.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman for Philippine Coast Guard operations within the West Philippine Sea, lodged a grievance on Friday on the Manila prosecutor’s workplace in opposition to Sass Rogando Sasot, a well-liked vlogger at the moment primarily based in Beijing.

The case is unprecedented: the primary recognized libel lawsuit arising instantly from the web data warfare surrounding the Philippines’ more and more fraught stand-off with China within the contested South China Sea.

In response to Tarriela’s grievance, Sasot falsely accused him on social media of receiving a US$4 million “expertise charge” from Washington, and of accumulating baggage of money from the residence of Home Speaker Martin Romualdez as fee for criticising Beijing’s actions within the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s time period for the a part of the South China Sea it claims as its personal.

She additionally alleged he had been expelled from the Philippine Navy Academy (PMA) for dishonest.

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In an interview with This Week in Asia, Tarriela mentioned the accusations had taken a deep private toll. “Completely,” he mentioned, when requested if the claims had affected his household.

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