MANILA (UPDATED) -- A heated exchange ensued between SAGIP Party List Representative Rodante Marcoleta and Philippine Coast Guard Spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela over the latter's remarks on social media regarding Marcoleta's statement that "there is nothing as West Philippine Sea" on maps.

During the resumption of the House Tri Committee hearing on Tuesday regarding the spread of disinformation and misinformation online, Marcoleta asked about claims on social media that Tarriela supposedly tagged him as a "traitor", which the PCG spokesperson denied.

"I did not use the word traitor in describing your statement," Tarriela said.

"You know people are bashing me, that I am pro-China… Sinabi mo sana sa social media, 'Bakit n'yo ina-ascribe sakin na sinabi ko na traitor si Cong. Marcoleta. I did not say that'," Marcoleta replied.

"This is only the first time I was asked whether you are a traitor or not. I don't think that I am under any obligation to respond to all those social media posts by vloggers, social media influencers. Why would I go to the extent of defending you? You are running for Senate. I might as well be interpreted as supporting somebody running for public office," Tarriela explained.

"Mr. Chair, clarifying something that is wrong is not pulitika," Marcoleta answered.

Pressed to explain why he did not correct the wrong information that he called the SAGIP lawmaker a "traitor", the PCG Spokesperson explained he only learned about it after Marcoleta's February 10 interview, where the congressman called him ignorant.

"Is it not important to you to correct something that did not originate from you?" Marcoleta asked.

"The only time I learned about that, was when I heard about your interview calling me g*go and mangmang. Why would I even defend you if you're calling me g*go? As a commissioned officer of the Philippine Coast Guard, being a spokesperson, calling me mangmang, not knowing what I'm saying, how will I defend you?" Tarriela replied.

"The act of doing it is the one that is g*go. 'Di ba? 'Yung ganoon, not necessarily the person eh," Marcoleta explained.

He also clarified that his statement on the West Philippine Sea refers to the need for the Philippines to register the name it created with the International Hydrographic Organization. 

But for Tarriela, there is already a Philippine law establishing the West Philippine Sea.

Tarriela also disclosed seeing a significant increase in supposed pro-China trolls, which use social media as their primary medium for spreading disinformation.

"We have seen a significant increase in Pro-China trolls. This has only strengthened the resolve of the NTF-WPS to be more transparent in exposing China's actions, as no amount of falsehood can prevail against the truth. Despite our efforts, social media platforms, as reported by the DICT in the last committee hearing, they have become the primary medium for these trolls to disseminate disinformation and fake news, reaching a large portion of our population," Tarriela said. 

TAXES 

A representative of the Bureau of Internal Revenue admitted on Tuesday that it only relies on the voluntary declaration of social media influencers regarding the income they generate for tax payments, citing difficulty in monitoring income from foreign payors.

But he noted that the BIR conducts random audits and investigates influencers considered as "high-risk."

"We rely only on the voluntary declaration of the influencers in so far as their income, because there will be great difficulty in monitoring the same considering that their income primarily comes from foreign income payors," BIR's Atty. Tobias Arcilla said.

"What we do, Mr. Chair, is that we audit and investigate the influencers, and we request data from the foreign tax jurisdictions, who we have existing treaties of exchange of information with, and cross-check. We compare the information that we received from foreign tax jurisdictions or the other countries and their declared income tax returns and from there, we determine how much they really earn," he added.

"Are we not doing our job well or are we remiss? Kasi bakit sinasabi n'yong voluntary? Andiyan naman 'yung platform, 'yung Google Philippines o 'yung YouTube. You can ask from them 'yung list ng mga nag-ge-generate ng income," House Deputy Minority Leader and ACT Teachers Party List Representative France Castro pointed out.

Arcilla said under existing tax laws, the BIR cannot just investigate any tax payer. Audits are done randomly or based on those who are classified as high-risk, he explained.