PHL to build P450-M seaport on disputed Pag-asa island

• Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/589465/news/nation/phl-to-build-p450-m-seaport-on-disputed-pag-asa-island
• Saturday, November 19, 2016 18:38:52

By JOHN TED CORDERO (ALG, GMA News)

The Philippine government is planning to build a P450-million seaport on Pag-asa Island located in the disputed Spratly archipelago, a lawmaker revealed on Saturday.

In a statement, House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations member Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel noted that the Department of Transportation (DOTr) is spending P450 million to build the seaport in an island located 518 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

"Funding for the project has been included in the House-approved 2017 General Appropriations Act, under the DOTr's aggregate P3.98-billion spending program for the maritime sector," Pimentel said.

In a report submitted to Congress, the DOTr said the new port would "vastly improve accessibility to the area and bolster the country's claims in the West Philippine Sea."

"We support the port development project, which will surely help encourage human settlement in the remote Philippine island that now has less than 400 residents, mostly fishermen," said the lawmaker, who is also a member of the House Committee on National Defense and Security.

Pag-asa island is part of the Kalayaan Island Group, which is at the western section of the Sprtaly archipelago.

Control over the entire Spratly archipelago is being claimed by China and disputed by the Philippines and other claimant countries.

However, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague has ruled in July that Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea could not be overlapped by any possible entitlement of China.

Pimentel also called on the University of the Philippines' Marine Science Institute and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to consider putting up a research station on Pag-asa.

He likewise urged the Department of Energy to find ways to provide the 37.2-hectare island a renewable and stable source of electricity.

"At present, only a 75-kilovolt-amp generator set supplies some of the electricity needs of the island," he noted.

Pag-asa - a low-lying landmass surrounded by shallow coral ranges - has been occupied by the Philippines since 1970.

It is the lone barangay of Kalayaan, which is the country's smallest municipality.

In 1978, former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. established by decree the Municipality of Kalayaan over the Kalayaan Island Group under the province of Palawan.

At present, Pag-asa is guarded by a small military detachment led by an officer with the rank of lieutenant. The Philippine Navy also has the Naval Station Emilio Liwanag in the island.

Pag-asa used to be a purely Philippine military installation, until government allowed civilians to settle in.

The island has an unpaved 1.3-kilometer airstrip, a one-classroom primary school and a five-bed clinic.