The government is spending an additional P3.03-billion to keep its infrastructure buildup in the Kalayaan Island Group, located in the northeastern section of the disputed Spratly archipelago, according to Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel.
“Congress has earmarked an additional P1.65 billion to develop the Pag-asa Island airport, plus P300 million for the (Pag-asa) shelter port,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “We have also allocated an extra P1.08 billion to construct the second phase of the Lawak Island shelter port.”
Pimentel said the three projects are fully itemized in the 2025 General Appropriations Law.
“The P3.03-billion in new appropriations is in addition to the combined P2.3-billion allocated by Congress for the Pag-asa airport and the Lawak shelter port in 2024,” he said.
Pimentel is the author of a bill that seeks to transform Pag-asa into a recreational fishing tourism destination, and a separate bill proposing an initial P5-billion appropriation to build new naval forward operating bases in the West Philippine Sea.
The projects are primarily to secure the natural gas and oil deposits beneath the seabed of the vast West Philippine Sea (WPS).
Pag-asa Island lies 508 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City. It has a land area of 37.2 hectares, the largest island in the KIG. Lawak Island has a land area of 7.93 hectares and is the fourth-largest island in the KIG. It lies 169 kilometers east of Pag-asa.
The Municipality of Kalayaan was created over the KIG under the Province of Palawan by virtue of a presidential decree issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. in 1978.