THE recent completion and inauguration of a military harbor project on Pagasa Island in the Municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan, has sparked a ray of hope within a small Filipino community there that the much-awaited undertaking could pave the way to bigger infrastructure projects and full-scale development of the island.
Dubbed in military parlance as a “beaching ramp,” the port project should usher improvement to the island’s underdeveloped state by allowing the repair of its airfield, the improvement of the living quarters of soldiers guarding the island, and a stable power supply in the future, while hastening the delivery of other basic and essential services, according to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Lorenzana led a group of defense-military officials at the recent inauguration of the port, one of the two similar projects on the island being claimed by China in the vast expanse of the South China Sea (SCS). Along with the repair of the airfield, the entire undertaking costs P1.8 billion.
The other project, a sheltered port, was built through funds from the Department of Transportation (DoTr), which is building another, but bigger, harbor. Although it has yet to commence construction, the project is expected to play a bigger role in the island’s full-scale development.
Occupy, develop Kalayaan
IF Pagasa were to be developed, its residents want that the whole Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) be improved and repopulated, both for economic and military purposes—with the transformation of Subic Bay Freeport, which allows both commercial and military use, as a possible template.
“It could also be developed into an ecotourism zone,” said former Kalayaan mayor-turned-municipal councilor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr., noting his long-pending proposition for this purpose that he sent the Senate.
The proposal wants the government to declare Kalayaan and its cluster of islands, also known as Spratlys, into an ecotourism area, with the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) taking charge of this development and spinning its shift into a tourism haven.
Bito-onon believes that unless the shoals and reefs claimed and occupied by the country in the Kalayaan are populated by civilians, there is no guarantee that it could not be taken by China, which disputes the territory by way of a sweeping claim.
He fears that KIG would end up like Scarborough, a shoal comparable to the size of Quezon City, that China has already secured and exercises a de facto control after the government “failed” to establish its presence there before.
“We have six Scarborough shoals that are closest to Palawan,” Bito-onon said, naming them as Alitia Ani Shoal, Rizal Reef, Royal Captain Shoal, Half Moon Shoal, Sabina Reef and Ayungin Shoal.
The regular resupply in Ayungin Shoal, military officials and even Lorenzana declared, is always challenged by Chinese patrols.
“If we want to protect Kalayaan, if we want to control the Spratlys, we have to occupy it, develop it,” the municipal councilor declared. “The problem is, it is not being developed.”
The government has stakes on nine reefs and shoals in the KIG, or Spratlys, and all of them, according to Lorenzana, are occupied by soldiers.
Bito-onon said the KIG, which resembles the shape of a hexagon, the entire length of which is bigger than the island of Mindanao, could be developed for an industry for which it is most fitting—fishing—due to its rich marine life.
“It could also be a fishing destination with the needed infrastructure,” he said.
“It could be developed for the fishing industry,” Bito-onon said. “All of its rich marine resources will go to waste if it will not. Instead of the Filipinos and the whole country benefiting from these resources, it will just go to the Chinese who exploit them.”
Chinese fishermen “in swarms,” aided by Chinese military and paramilitary ships, have been exacting a heavy toll on marine resources in Kalayaan, harvesting even the prohibited giant clams, known locally as taklobo, and destroying corals—damage mostly inflicted by the Chinese government when it reclaimed and developed man-made islands in the SCS.
“Giant clams are a billion-dollar industry in Hainan,” Bito-onon revealed, referring to China’s province.
By transforming Kalayaan into a mariculture and fishing development zone, it could turn into and support ocean farming and be protected like Tubbataha in Palawan and even other diving destinations.
Waning hope
WHILE the residents of Pagasa and even Bito-onon took note of Lorenzana’s “messianic” message of development at the recent turnover ceremony and inauguration of the beaching ramp, the islanders’ hope, however, is beginning to ebb due to the absence of a firm and concrete stance from the national government on what it would do next with Kalayaan.
“We were hoping to hear a policy stand on the development even for Pagasa, a development blueprint, from the national government, but there is none,” Bito-onon noted.
Bito-onon, who had long advocated for the development of the island and even the whole of Kalayaan into a maritime economic zone, was expecting to hear Malacañang reinforce Lorenzana’s message of hope with a strong “policy direction.”
The municipal councilor and the residents are eager to hear the Duterte government unveil its whole development package for the KIG, but it may not be coming at all, given the absence, or perhaps an oversight, of a concrete development plan.
“What is the national government’s policy direction for Kalayaan? There is none,” Bito-onon lamented.
Still, the former mayor was very appreciative of Lorenzana’s military plans, at least for Pagasa, as jumpstarted by the construction of the beaching ramp by its contractor, Luzviminda Engineering Construction. This, he said, would also benefit them.
Luzviminda finished the project at a rather extended and “unreliable” performance record of nearly three years, although it was supposed to have been constructed a year after the project was awarded in 2017. In comparison, the sheltered port was completed in 24 months.
For the residents, the two ports, especially the one built by the transportation department, have ended their constant near-encounters with death, which occurs when they have to bring in their supplies.
A boat tapped to ferry the goods into the island stops at least one kilometer away from the Pagasa shoreline, and as it drifts, the goods have to be carried and transferred manually to the “utility” boat of the local government of Kalayaan, which sails them closer to land.
Sometimes, the boat would even drift away by as far as five kilometers from the shoreline, and as it moves, the utility boat has to follow. The transfer of goods happens as both boats are in motion, or are drifting, as the case may be.
It was worse when Pagasa did not yet have its utility boat.
“It was really a game of death every time we had to bring in supplies for the whole of Pagasa,” Bito-onon recalled.
Triangular development
THE development of Kalayaan, let alone the island of Pagasa, should not be improved at a purely military standpoint, but it has to be economically viable also, if it has to grow and sustain its existence.
As such, its improvement should be pursued along three components—security, development and investment.
Bito-onon said Pagasa alone will not improve if the government is only after its military development, as shown by the construction of the beaching ramp and the upcoming repair of the Rancudo military airfield.
“Okay, you will have security development, but where is the investment?” he asked.
Bito-onon said that if facilities and infrastructure are only built for the military’s restrictive use, Pagasa cannot encourage civilian investors to come in.
“The civilian government should come in, Tieza should come in,” he said, encouraging projects such as those of the transportation department and even the building of at least an “aerodrome.”
When he was still a mayor, Bito-onon tried to persuade a group of big-time fish exporters from Hong Kong to invest in the island. The businessmen, however, moved back after seeing that the island is bereft of facilities and infrastructure.
This time around, he hopes that the recent developments encouraged by Lorenzana will lead to a more sustained initiative by the national government to pursue the long-term, comprehensive development of the island. Who knows? Subic’s stunning success was built on big dreams, but also some stumbling moments along the way. And yet it has triumphed against all odds, because there was political will.
Image credits: Department of National Defense PAS via AP