TIT-FOR-TAT MEASURE: P800M set for new shelter port in Kalayaan Island Group

The Philippines is fast-tracking the construction of transportation facilities in the Kalayaan Island Group, amid China’s unprecedented artificial island-building in the Spratly Archipelago.

Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. said that in the 2024 General Appropriations Law, Congress has earmarked P800 million for the Department of Transportation’s construction of a new shelter port on Lawak Island.

“The sum for the Lawak shelter port is itemized in the 2024 Maritime Transportation Infrastructure Program,” Campos, vice chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, said.

A shelter port is a facility where boats, including those for fishing, can seek refuge via anchorages with access channels, breakwaters, and jetties, among other structures.

Lawak is the second-largest landmass in the Philippine-administered Kalayaan Island Group, which is located at the northeastern section of the Spratly Archipelago.

“The P800 million for the Lawak shelter port is on top of, and separate from, the P1.5 billion for the expansion of the airport on Pag-asa Island,” Campos said.

“The shelter port and the airport expansion projects give substance to House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s pledge to develop the Kalayaan Island Group in a bid to encourage civilian settlements there,” Campos said.

With a land area of 7.93 hectares, Lawak is located 157 kilometers east of Pag-asa, which has a land area of 37.2 hectares.

In addition to Pag-asa and Lawak, the Kalayaan Island Group includes the islands of Likas, Parola, Kota, Patag and Panata, and the Balagtas Reef, Ayungin Shoal and Rizal Shoal.

The Municipality of Kalayaan was created over the Kalayaan Island Group under the Province of Palawan by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 1596 issued by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. on June 11, 1978.

A sixth-class municipality, Kalayaan is the least populated town in the Philippines, with only 193 residents who all live on Pag-asa, according to the 2020 census.

The Kalayaan municipal government is based in Pag-asa.