LOCAL officials and residents of the Kalayaan Island Group took offense at the statement by Senator Rodante Marcoleta that it will be easier to give up the islands than go to war against China for what he claimed to be “something that is not even within our EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone).”
“We were offended. We take offense at what he has said because what is the use then of our municipality? What is the purpose of our honorable people who have given up greener pastures elsewhere just to stay here for decades,” said Kalayaan Vice Mayor Murice Phillip Albayda.
Albayada said the local government will meet on Tuesday to file a resolution requesting the Senate secretariat to strike out the comment made by Marcoleta.
Kalayaan is the country’s only municipality located in the West Philippine Sea.
Malacañang immediately rejected suggestions that the Philippines should give up the KIG, noting that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will not surrender any portion of the country’s territory in the West Philippine Sea.
Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said Mr. Marcos remains firm in defending the country’s maritime claims and will continue to assert sovereignty through diplomatic and legal means.
During a Commission on Appointments hearing on Wednesday, Marcoleta raised the KIG issue.
“What exactly are we killing each other for? We will offer our lives and the lives of our children to die for it, for something that is not even within our EEZ. What we should do to make it easier is to give up the KIG,” Marcoleta said.
Marcoleta, in a text message to GMANEWS that was posted on its Facebook page, clarified he did not say the Philippines should give away KIG and that some people were “deliberately abbreviating the context” of his statement.
“For the WPS to be listed in the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization), we need to deposit maps to the UN to notify the world that we are usurping part of the high seas in including the KIG to the WPS since the KIG lies beyond our EEZ. I said that is not possible because we will be violating the UNCLOS, unless of course we give up the KIG to solve the problem!”
UP law professor and maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal, for his part, said Marcoleta’s statement undermines the country’s position and strengthens China’s claims on the issue.
“Certainly, it’s unacceptable for a senator of the republic to suggest even that we simply give up any portion of the national territory just on his say-so,” said Batongbacal, director of the Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea of the UP Law Center.
“So, he’s really helping them (China) and he has no excuse. He cannot say ‘I’m just being a devil’s advocate or I just don’t know what’…Ignorance is not an excuse because he’s a senator of the republic. That’s the kind of willful ignorance on his part. He’s really ignoring the applicable law, the applicable rules and the applicable principles,” Batongbacal added.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, for his part, said any proposal to “relinquish” the Kalayaan Island Group is the same as conceding Luzon or possibly the whole nation.
“Giving up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) is no different from giving up Luzon Island or the entire country. Under international law, first discovery and possession of land that belongs to no one under the legal principle of ‘res nullius’ or ‘terra nullius’ is a recognized mode of sovereign ownership. Even non-lawyers were taught this in school,” the senator said.
Lacson, who visited the KIG in 2021, pointed out that Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan inhabited by some 300 Filipino families.
“When I heard Senator Marcoleta say that we should give up KIG, I had to clear the issue and assert why KIG is ours. Sen. Marcoleta claimed the KIG is outside the EEZ, and I cannot accept that because there were Filipinos living on Pagasa Island,” Lacson said.
