Pag-asa Island eyed as tourist destination

MANILA, Philippines - The municipality of Kalayaan on Pag-asa Island is looking forward to the island’s conversion into a tourist spot and a recreation haven for visiting American troops and other friendly forces with the scheduled construction of a beaching ramp to accommodate roll-on, roll-off vessels.

Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon said he expects the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to complete the construction of the ramp this year.

“In fact, we are sending an invitation to the commander of the US Pacific Command to consider our island town as one of the rest and recreation areas for their servicemen who are deployed here in the country,” he said.

Bito-onon told The STAR in a telephone interview that the blue waters and white sand surrounding the main island of Pag-asa present an ideal site for diving and other forms of sea-based activities for local and foreign tourists.

“Look at the islet being occupied by Malaysia,” he said. “The area is highly developed and is now serving as rest and recreation (site) of their civilian and military visitors.”

Bito-onon earlier met with officials of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Manila for a programmed construction of a safe harbor in the island municipality.

Bito-onon said once completed, the sea channel would be converted into a safe harbor that could accommodate visiting commercial, private and military vessels.

“After the beaching ramp courtesy of the PPA, construction materials can already be easily unloaded, including heavy equipment that would be used to dredge a deep canal from the sea toward the island,” he said.

Classified as a sixth-class municipality of Palawan, Kalayaan has a regulated population of 67 families, mostly fishermen, aside from the soldiers who are deployed in the area.

It is located within the hotly contested Spratly archipelago, also being claimed in whole or in part by China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei.

Filipino soldiers are also deployed on the island, one of nine areas in the Spratlys that local troops have been occupying for decades as part of the country’s territory.

Meanwhile, senior military officers yesterday expressed support to the planned conversion of the island municipality into a rest and recreation center for visiting American soldiers as well as local military troops and civilian visitors.

“Moves by Mayor Bito-onon to develop his town deserve support and endorsement from the national government just like what the Malaysian government has done in one of their occupied islands in the region,” said a military official who requested anonymity.

The officer was referring to an islet in the Spratlys being occupied by Malaysian troops, which was described by Kuala Lumpur as one of their best diving sites.

Military officers said the local government’s move will boost economic development in the island town and help improve the lives of the residents who rely mainly on fishing.