Admiral Ronnie Gil L. Gavan, commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), lauded Coast Guard personnel for enduring mounting challenges and adversaries as they carry out their mandate to protect the Philippines, particularly in the disputed West Philippine Sea (WPS).

“The past months have been full of challenges, sacrifices, and trials, but we have once again proven our resilience, professionalism, and dedication to the nation,” Admiral Gavan said in his New Year video message on Thursday.

“Together, let us face the new year with discipline, integrity, and dedication, towards a stronger and more prosperous New Philippines,” he added.

China’s environmental narratives won’t erase PH rights

Meanwhile, civic leaders said China’s attempt to cloak its control of Scarborough Shoal in environmental language does not alter legal realities, stressing that conservation narratives cannot erase Philippine rights affirmed by history and international rulings.

Chinese state-linked outlets, they noted, have launched a coordinated campaign portraying Beijing as a responsible environmental steward of Scarborough Shoal while recasting Filipino fishermen and lawful Philippine presence as ecological threats.

Presented in scientific language and a measured tone, the messaging seeks to normalize control and marginalize Philippine claims.

“This is not the first time power has tried to dress occupation in softer words,” Chairman Emeritus Dr. Jose Antonio Goitia said. “What has changed is the costume. Today, it is conservation.”

Goitia, who leads Alyansa ng Bantay sa Kapayapaan at Demokrasya, People’s Alliance for Democracy and Reforms, Liga Independencia Pilipinas, and the Filipinos Do Not Yield Movement, reiterated that Scarborough Shoal lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, a status affirmed by the 2016 arbitral ruling under international law.

“Environmental language does not overwrite legal reality,” Goitia emphasized. “You cannot conserve what you do not lawfully own, and you cannot accuse others of trespass in waters that are not yours.”

He said portraying the Philippines as an ecological interloper in its own maritime zone inverts both law and logic, stressing that conservation, however framed, does not confer sovereignty.

Long before patrol vessels and policy briefings, Filipino fishermen had already worked these waters. Their presence, Goitia said, is historical rather than incidental.

“Our fishermen did not arrive at Scarborough as violators,” he said. “They arrived there as sons of the sea, continuing a livelihood older than any modern claim.”

Casting them as illegal actors erases lived history and reframes tradition as transgression, he added.

Goitia also pointed out that China’s own reports assert the reef ecosystem remains generally healthy, a claim he said weakens accusations being advanced against Filipino fishermen.

“If the reef is indeed healthy, then the accusation falls apart,” he said. “If it is not, then any fair assessment must reckon with years of sustained maritime presence, blockades, and imposed restrictions.”

Environmental evaluation, he stressed, cannot be selective, and must account for all pressures, including constant patrol activity, large vessels, and disruption of long-standing traditional use.

Earlier, Rafaela David, lead convenor of Atin Ito—a coalition that has led civilian missions asserting Philippine sovereignty in the WPS—also warned against Beijing’s messaging.

“Let’s not be fooled by China’s propaganda. What China did was not humanitarianism; it is image management, it is propaganda-driven assistance,” David said.