Revisiting ‘Kalayaan’ in the WPS

We have done our part and duty. The rest now lies in your hands to bring about the realization of this beautiful dream of a greater Philippines.

– Tomas Cloma

ON Dec. 4, 1974, “Kalayaan” discoverer Admiral Tomas Cloma irrevocably ceded, transferred, conveyed and assigned, and waived in favor of the Republic of the Philippines, whatever rights his government acquired under existing international law and Philippine laws over “Kalayaan” for one Philippine peso (P1). Thereafter, the Philippine government incorporated Cloma’s Kalayaan group of islands into the province of Palawan as a municipality.

Officially known as “Kalayaan Island Group” (KIG) in the Spratlys archipelago in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the territory consists of large islands such as Pag-asa, Likas, Parola, Kota and Pugad, and small ones like Patag and Panata. All islands form part of Palawan, the country’s last frontier.

Pag-asa

The capital and government center of Kalayaan is Pag-asa, also the lone barangay of the municipality of Kalayaan. Its dominant population are civilians with soldiers constituting a minority. Be it noted that Pag-asa is only 37 hectares, more or less, and can only accommodate 500 or so people at a time. The civilian settlers are involved in fishing and other sea-related endeavors. Actually, the residents are assisted with livelihood by the government and their supplies are provided by naval ships which visit once a month. They raise goats, pigs and chickens, and plant crops in an allotted space on the island. A few have businesses to attend to on the Palawan mainland. Also present is a rotation of Filipino soldiers, considering the strategic importance of the KIG to Philippine national security.

The Philippines has stationed soldiers in its occupied islands. Small structures were built to house soldiers. A naval ship, the BRP Sierra Madre, which ran aground in one of the reefs, serves as a shelter and observation post for stationed Marines. Each of the large islands has a watchtower to effectively guard the small ones. Philippine naval vessels and reconnaissance airplanes detect movements of foreign claimants.

Insofar as claims are concerned, China’s relentless encroachments, accompanied by a reclamation and building spree, are based on its nine-dash line sovereign rights claim to all features of the Spratlys. The Philippines essentially claims the western section of the Spratlys, which is nearest to Palawan. Vietnam, which claims 25 islands, has so far successfully defended its claimed territory from Chinese incursions. Malaysia claims a few high-tide features off the coast of Borneo. Brunei Darussalam, on the other hand, claims an underwater reef off the coast of Brunei and does not maintain any military presence in the Spratlys. It should be mentioned that the show of active interest in the Spratlys was triggered by Cloma’s declaration of his claim based on “discovery and occupation” and subsequent assertion of Philippine jurisdiction.

Controversies

Sometime in the late 1990s, the Philippines initiated cooperative development of the disputed area in the Spratlys. The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia, along with other Asean countries, were targeted as investors in a development plan which was already on the drawing board. However, the Asean plan came to a halt because of China’s controversial occupation of the Panganiban Reef (Mischief Reef).

In 2002, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the West Philippine Sea was signed in an effort to ease the tensions between claimants. It was stipulated that “all nations claiming sovereignty over the Spratly Islands shall commit to the status quo and shall not erect any new structure in the disputed areas.” The actual language of the declaration, however, did not mention either “status quo” nor the erection of structures.

Thereafter, the disputed Spratlys was beset by more controversies. Among them:

1. Balikatan exercises – Since 2001, the Philippines and the United States have held joint military exercises in different parts of the Philippines. Referred to as Balikatan exercises, it has been part of Operation Enduring Freedom-Philippines which is in turn part of Enduring Freedom and the US global war on terrorism.

Many of the war games of Balikatan involve amphibious assault exercises. Some of these amphibious assault exercises were held in Palawan which lies near Spratlys where Kalayaan is located. Naturally, China protested past Balikatan military exercises held near the Spratlys.

2. Fisheries law enforcement – Many Chinese vessels fish in the West Philippine Sea to the extent of entering Philippine waters like the Sulu Sea apart from the disputed waters of the Spratlys. And though the Philippines has been tolerant in allowing Chinese vessels to fish in disputed areas, including the Scarborough Shoal and waters in the vicinity of the Philippine-occupied Spratlys, they are, however, arrested if the Philippine Navy or Coast Guard determines that they are doing illegal fishing activity like using

dynamite or cyanide poison.

By 2020, the situation had completely changed. According to media accounts, President Duterte had allowed Chinese fishermen to fish in our exclusive economic zone (EEZ) by virtue of a verbal agreement with China’s President Xi Jinping. The result is the anomalous situation of Filipinos importing “galunggong” from China, the same “galunggong” owned by Filipinos but harvested by Chinese fishermen as described by former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio.

Fisherfolk from Zambales who have been fishing in the Scarborough Shoal (locally known as Panatag Shoal located off the coast of Zambales and well within the 200 nautical mile EEZ of the Philippines) since time immemorial lament their dwindling fish catch because huge Chinese trawlers have been scooping the fish in their traditional fishing grounds. They use only wooden boats with outriggers that are dwarfed by the huge hulled Chinese trawlers.

Philippine policy on poaching by Chinese fishermen in the Philippine EEZ is in sharp contrast to the policy of Indonesian President Widodo whereby Chinese fishing boats encroaching on the Indonesian EEZ are seized by Indonesian authorities. Even small South Pacific island states impose fees per ton of fish catch on Chinese trawlers fishing in their EEZ.

Be that as it may, Chinese encroachment in Philippine waters continues. Last Nov. 16, 2021, Chinese coast guards blocked and fired water cannons at civilian boats resupplying Filipino troops stationed in the Ayungin Shoal within the Philippine EEZ. (Chinese ships used to confront Philippine Navy ships delivering supplies to Ayungin, so it was decided to use civilian boats instead to ease the tension.) About 19 Chinese coast guard ships have been detected at the shoal for almost a week and 45 others were spotted on Pagasa Island before the latest incident within Philippine waters mentioned above.

3. Joint marine seismic undertaking – This is a tripartite agreement between the Philippines, Vietnam and China for the seismic exploration of an area which is actually within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. When the Far Eastern Economic Review published an article that says “The Philippines…has made breathtaking concessions in agreeing to an area of study, including parts of its own continental shelf…and an area that abuts Malampaya, a Philippine producing gas field,” Filipino legislators raised protests on the matter alleging Chinese connection to loan deals with the Philippines. The controversy raised alarm over increasing Chinese influence on the Philippines akin to the growing influence of China in other countries, especially in Africa.

Be it noted that the area surrounding the Spratlys is known to be rich in yet unexplored oil and gas fields. Particularly controversial is the discovery of gas following the drilling of oil in the Reed Bank, a submerged feature in the WPS, which is the object of claims by China, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Fortunately, the Philippines’ Malampaya Field is not claimed by other countries. Located 80 kilometers north of Palawan, it is the only operational oil platform of the Philippines which pioneered the country’s natural gas industry.

Looking forward, thinking positive

Municipal officials and residents of Kalayaan have unveiled a bust monument to honor its discoverer — Admiral Tomas Cloma. The municipality has a school now with 34 students and two teachers. A clinic is manned by a lone nurse. Fortunately, Kalayaan is Covid-free.

Immediately after the latest incident of Chinese encroachment on Philippine waters, Sen. Ping Lacson, in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, went on a mission to Kalayaan to have a deeper understanding of the issues involving national security over the WPS. He has filed Senate Resolution 954 condemning the continued presence and hostile acts committed by Chinese maritime ships within the Philippine EEZ. On the other hand, at the Asean-China Special Summit on Dialogue Relations held virtually on Nov. 22, 2021, President Rodrigo Duterte described as “abhorrent” the most recent Chinese harassment of Filipino supply boats in the Ayungin Shoal. He also reminded China of its commitment at crafting the long awaited Code of Conduct in the South China Sea.

Local officials are proposing the development of Pag-asa for tourism. It offers white sand beaches, diving spots and a variety of birds, trees, plants and numerous marine species.

Indeed, Kalayaan abounds in natural resources, i.e., marine and mineral resources. However, the issue of environmental security surfaces whenever the sovereignty issue poses a threat like a potential dispute over exploitation of natural resources. Despite overlapping claims on the Spratly islands among the Philippines, Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Taiwan, there are arguments that favor cooperation to preserve/conserve the ecological wealth of the area rather than tackling head-on the territorial sovereignty issue. Apart from the longstanding suggestion for an Asean Area of Cooperation in the Spratlys, there are possibilities for the provision of internationally protected area status in the Spratlys through multilateral cooperative options available.

The notion of eco-geographical regimes is a useful one in demarcating areas within which natural resources can be taken to be relatively homogeneous and, consequently, the concept of sovereignty duly readjusted. The International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, the two international commissions for the environmental protection and sustainable utilization of the Baltic Sea and the comparable mechanism for cooperation among most of the littoral states are examples of this.

In short, there is just a need for international and inter-regional cooperation that must be able to transcend the rights of sovereignty now vested in States. Hopefully, the principle of shared responsibility for the protection of the environment in the Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea could be fully realized, recognized and accepted.

The author, a delegate (Oriental Mindoro) to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, was a member of its committee on national territory which defined the Philippine territory to include “all other territories belonging to the Philippines by historic right or legal title,” referring to Sabah, Marianas Islands and Kalayaan in the WPS. The intent was to prevent forfeiture of our claims over some territories by their omission from the Constitution.