WPS now part of ‘Love the Philippines’

The tourism master plan to develop the Pag-asa Islands in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is now in the finishing stages by the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (TIEZA). An attached body of the Department of Tourism (DOT), TIEZA is ready to launch its master plan by year 2026 to officially include the WPS as one of the destinations for both foreign and domestic tourists under our “Love the Philippines” tourism brand.

Carrying out directives from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., DOT Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco proudly reported the impending transformation of Pag-asa Island into a tourist spot and a recreation haven as promised. The DOT secretary announced this latest update from TIEZA during our Tuesday Club breakfast gathering that perked up the otherwise drab morning as the monsoon rains flooded most parts of Metro Manila going to Edsa Shangri-La Hotel.

Frasco disclosed TIEZA chief Mark Lapid informed her that they have started implementing the basic infrastructure needs like pontoon or jetty ports and more community-based tourism activities in Pag-asa island. As part of these efforts, Frasco explained, the DOT is assisting local government officials in the island in the training of residents, including fisherfolk, in promoting their own tourism attractions and handicrafts and other entrepreneurship skills.

TIEZA is a government-owned and controlled corporation being supervised by the DOT. Among its mandate, TIEZA is tasked to establish tourism enterprise zones and construct infrastructure projects in local tourism destinations. The TIEZA generates its own revenues from travel tax collections. A lawyer by profession, Frasco cited TIEZA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Information and Communications Technology to help ease payment of travel tax via online using the eGovPH and eTravel systems.

The Pag-asa Island is the second largest island in the whole of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), known by its international name Spratlys in the WPS. 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. The only Philippine-occupied island in the Spratlys, Filipino civilians live there, along with military troopers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Pag-asa Island and its adjoining islands of Parola, Kota and Panata, collectively referred to as the Pag-asa Island Cluster, are located in the Municipality of Kalayaan in the province of Palawan. As one of the signatory countries to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the Philippines claims these islands in the KIG.

Despite being also signatory to the UNCLOS, China, however, maintains the Spratlys belong to them as it is located within their “nine-dash-line” claim around the entire South China Sea (SCS). Aside from the Philippines and China, other countries such as Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have overlapping maritime territorial claims in the SCS.

But it was only the Philippines that brought our KIG claims under UNCLOS before the international tribunal. And on July 12, 2016, The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration trashed Beijing’s “nine-dash-line” claim as being without legal basis and ruled in favor of the Philippines’ invoking its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) around the WPS. China though has been resorting to “bully” tactics to maintain its presence in the SCS, harassing Filipino fishermen, Philippine Navy vessels as well as Philippine Coast Guard ships through these years despite the arbitral ruling.

When he first took office in June 2022, PBBM reasserted strongly our country’s claim. In 2024, PBBM approved as much as P100 million from the national government budget to bankroll TIEZA’s master plan to transform WPS into an eco-tourism zone.

According to Lapid, the funds were allocated by the lawmakers in the annual budget to ensure the completion of the master plan and detailed engineering study of the WPS and neighboring islands.

Actually, as early as August 2016, then senator Sonny Angara filed Senate Bill 944. It sought to declare Pag-asa Island as a special ecological tourism zone to promote and develop the island cluster as a tourist destination while protecting its natural resources. It did not move in the 17th Congress, then controlled by administration allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

On March 1, 2023, it was refiled in the 19th Congress. Like its predecessor bill, it got only up to first reading and referral to the Senate committee on tourism. Unfortunately, it also never saw the light of day out of the legislative mill. As secretary now of the Department of Education, Angara is a colleague of Frasco in the Marcos Cabinet.

It’s now in the hands of Frasco as DOT secretary to ensure its implementation by Executive action.

In his visit to Puerto Princesa City in Palawan in July last year, PBBM underscored the importance of the province in national defense as well as the role of tourism in its continued growth and development. Currently, the closest airport is a military runway at the Balabac Island airbase, the construction of which is still being completed. Balabac is a town also in Palawan strategically close to the Chinese fortifications in the WPS. It is also one of the four additional sites of our country’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the United States.

Last year, Speaker Martin Romualdez also visited Pag-asa and committed to provide P3 billion to construct the airport and other development projects in the island municipality. Classified as a sixth-class municipality of Palawan, Kalayaan has a population of 67 families or around 200 people, per 2020 census.

Frasco is currently deep into organizing a National Task Force (NTF) to ensure the safety of all local and foreign visitors all around our country. It will include military troopers as force multipliers to the 8,000 tourist police force of the DOT.

As to concerns about risks to tourists visiting Pag-asa island, the NTF will be there to protect DOT’s Love the Philippines tourism campaign.