Cash economy now common practice on Pag-Asa Island

KALAYAAN, Pag-Asa Island, Palawan, Philippines  – In this tiny island enclave over which nations wage word wars, money now speaks louder than words.

Since the reopening of a cooperative store here last year, the inhabitants of this small island have abandoned barter trade in favor of hard currency.

Kalayaan in the Spratlys is claimed in whole or in part by other countries particularly China and Vietnam. The claimant countries have been accusing each another of intrusions.  

“After we have re-opened our cooperative store last year, nauso na ang pera sa isla (the use of money has become widespread in the island). No more credit, the barter trade is gone,” said 37-year-old housewife and cooperative board member Dina Balosinos.

She said the store management is strictly enforcing a “no credit” policy to make sure the business would not go bankrupt like its predecessor.

The island’s basic supplies like water, kerosene, coffee, sugar, rice, soap, and even drinking water used to come from mainland Palawan, delivered by military vessels. Their supplies were abundant enough to catch the attention of visiting fishermen who would often offer to buy some or even all of the goods.

“Most of these fishermen wanted to buy all our merchandise most of the time, but we declined because these are all meant for the local residents,” she said.

In the past, inhabitants of this island treated consumer products like canned goods, bottled soft drinks, liquor, and cigarettes like treasure.

Nowadays, these products – including infant formula and diapers – are available in the store.

“We have to sell baby’s milk because we have already babies here,” Balosinos said. She admitted they have to set a 15 percent markup for the products, but business is very good.

“I was surprised one time, when the storekeeper remitted P80,000 representing our sale for one month. Could this be true? I asked myself. The next month the store keeper remitted P11,000. Then I knew, I was not just imagining things,” she said.

The villagers’ feeling of isolation was also greatly eased by Smart’s establishment of a cell site in the island. Connection with islands occupied by other claimants like Vietnam is now also possible.

Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon, for his part, said inhabitants of the island as well as its small garrison of soldiers now enjoy amenities like cable TV, hooked up to a satellite.

“The Betamax era here has long passed. The people here are now updated with what’s going in the Philippines and the entire world. They have cable television,” Bito-onon said, referring to the 80s era video contraption.

News or television watching, however, is only from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., to save on fuel for the island’s generator sets.

In the bygone era, Bito-onon said soldiers assigned to the island were able to memorize lines in Betamax movies that they endlessly watched.

Maj. Gen. Jauncho Sabban, Western Command commander, agreed with Bito-onon, saying soldiers would often fight boredom by memorizing lines from rerun action movies.

“The soldiers memorized the dialogue in the movies and this made them feel like the stars themselves,” Sabban said.

Demilitarization woes

Sabban also said the demilitarization of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) had emboldened other claimant countries to establish and assert their presence in the area.

“Since 1986 the KIG is already a demilitarized zone following the recall of the battalions of Marines stationed here and from the rest of the seven islets and two reefs we had been occupying,” Sabban told The STAR during a recent media visit to Pag-Asa Island. Four lawmakers led the visit.

Being a demilitarized zone, Wescom and the local officials in Kalayaan even forged a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in 2005 allowing civilian and commercial aircraft to land at Rancudo Airfield in the 37-hectare Pag-Asa island, the second biggest island in the region, occupied by Filipino troops.

Bito-onon said he was wondering why despite the MOA, the Department Foreign Affairs (DFA) calls the shots on what or which aircraft would be allowed to land in the island.

“In April this year, we had dozens of tourists from seven countries to include Russia, United Kingdom, Sweden, all excited to visit Pag-Asa Island as part of our packaged tour but were barred from flying to area by the DFA,” Bito-onon complained.

Bito-onon said the Kalayaan municipality, because of the MOA, is spending its budget to help the military in the maintenance of the Rancudo Airfield.

Prior to the recall of the Marines, Sabban said that the country’s military was the strongest among forces in the Spratlys.

Sabban said other forces in the region were no match then to the country’s air power. Philippine F8s and F5 fighter jets used to conduct regular patrol and reconnaissance missions over the region.

“In most of our islands we have Marines with heavy guns and amphibious tanks,” Sabban said.

With the downgrading of the country’s forces, Vietnam started its own incursions in unoccupied islets followed by China and later Malaysia, Sabban said.

Taiwan established a presence at Itu Aba island, one of the biggest islands with land area of 42 hectares located well within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

Aside from constructing military structures, Vietnam has also converted Pugad Island in KIG into a tourist spot with hotels, a marina and dive facilities.

China, on the other hand, despite its distance from KIG, was able to establish its presence in the region by slowly establishing a modern military facility from what was initially claimed by Bejing in 1995 as a fishermen’s shelter in the Mischief reef – an area very close to mainland Palawan.

“Our security is very pathetic. How can we protect our territory here if we don’t have a credible force here,” one of the visiting lawmakers said.