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This Week in Asia Politics: The Philippines

Philippines-China sea dispute moves to legal battlefield with cyber libel suit

Top Philippine coastguard official takes action against pro-Beijing influencer for claiming that he is a paid US asset

By Raissa Robles聽 Published: 10:38pm, 4th Jul 2025

The Philippines鈥� maritime dispute with China has spilled into the courts after a top coastguard official filed a cyber libel case against a pro-Beijing influencer over explosive 鈥� and, he claims, baseless 鈥� allegations that he is a paid asset of the United States.

Commodore Jay Tarriela, spokesman for Philippine Coast Guard operations in the West Philippine Sea, lodged a complaint on Friday at the Manila prosecutor鈥檚 office against Sass Rogando Sasot, a popular vlogger currently based in Beijing.

The case is unprecedented: the first known libel lawsuit arising directly from the online information war surrounding the Philippines鈥� increasingly fraught stand-off with China in the contested South China Sea.

According to Tarriela鈥檚 complaint, Sasot falsely accused him on social media of receiving a US$4 million 鈥渢alent fee鈥� from Washington, and of collecting bags of cash from the residence of House Speaker Martin Romualdez as payment for criticising Beijing鈥檚 actions in the West Philippine Sea 鈥� Manila鈥檚 term for the part of the South China Sea it claims as its own. (End quote)

The SCMP added:

happy trails ppl