THE government has allocated P450 million for the construction of a new seaport in Pag-asa Island in the Spratlys, a congressman revealed on Saturday.
Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, a member of the House committee on appropriations, said the allocation was made under the P3.98-billion budget of the Department of Transportation in the House-approved 2017 General Appropriations Act.
Pimentel said the new port would vastly improve accessibility to the area and bolster the country’s claims in the West Philippine Sea, citing a DOTr report submitted to Congress.
Located 480 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City, Pag-asa is administered by the town of Kalayaan in Palawan.
The entire Spratly archipelago and its many ridges are being claimed by China, Pimentel said, but a tribunal of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in July that Philippine territories in the West Philippine Sea could not be overlapped by any possible entitlement of China.
“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,” Pimentel, also a member of the House committee on national defense and security, said.
Pimentel said the University of the Philippines’ Marine Science Institute and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources should now consider putting up a research station in 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-KVa generator set supplies some of the electricity needs of the island.
A low-lying landmass surrounded by shallow coral ranges, Pag-asa has been occupied by the Philippines since 1970.
President Ferdinand Marcos established the Municipality of Kalayaan in 1978 to administer the Kalayaan Island. Pag-asa is the lone barangay of Kalayaan, which is the country’ smallest municipality.
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.
