Reuters file photo of Pagasa Island in Kalayaan
Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon Jr. is growing frustrated with his own attempts to bring development to Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), his tiny town of 79 hectares with only one barangay and a population not even reaching 300.
“It’s waste of money and time to go back and forth to Manila to follow up our development proposals. Nothing happens up to now,” Bito-onon tells InterAksyon.com.
Bito-onon says KIG only has P40 million in annual Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), which is not enough to spur development in the impoverished municipality of seven islets and three reefs.
“More than 50 percent of our IRA goes to salaries and the remaining is not even enough to sustain operational expenses. Sa ngayon nga, ubos na ang supply namin ng diesel at gasolina kaya namomroblema na kami [We’re having problems now because we have run out of diesel and gasoline],” the mayor says.
KIG residents, mostly fishermen, share the mayor’s disappointment. What makes it worse is their fear that before development reaches the area, the resource-rich Palawan town could have already been exploited and destroyed by foreigners claiming ownership of the territory, a part of the disputed Spratlys.
One of the KIG residents from Barangay Pagasa swears that he recently saw a group of Chinese fishermen loading large cache of corals and giant clams into their boats from Ayungin Reef, one of the three reefs in Kalayaan.
The resident, who requested anonymity, says the Chinese fishing boats, which have been staying in the area for a week now, were with three Chinese naval vessels.
“Nakita ko…mga taklobo at corals talaga. Puno na nga ‘yong isang 14 by four meters [I saw the taklobo and the corals. One of the fishing vessels, about 14 by four meters long had already been filled.]
The resident says among the vessels he saw was a frigate with bow number 563.
A senior military officer confirms reports of the Chinese vessels’ intrusion into the reef and their decimation of marine resources in Ayungin.
He claims the vessels were in the area to “rape” the islands.
“Based on the reports, positive nga. They are there to unsustainably harvest giant clams and corals in the area. Sa madaling sabi [That means], they are there to rape our islands,” says the officer, who also refused to be named.
The officer also believes that the frigate seen by the Pagasa resident, with bow number 563, belongs to China. China’s South Sea fleet lists Zhaoqing 563 as among its Jianghu V-class frigates.
The officer said the 14-by-four-meter fishing vessel described by the Pagasa resident “is really big.” He warns that if Chinese fishermen continue harvesting corals from Ayungin, the damage would be much bigger than the destruction caused by the 48-meter Chinese vessel, Min Yong Lu, which plowed into the Tubbataha Reef last month destroying 4,000 square meters of the marine park.
“Pag nagtuloy-tuloy yan, mas malawak pa ang damage n’yan doon sa sumadsad na Chinese vessel sa Tubbataha,” the officer says.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines’ Western Command (Westcom), which has jurisdiction over Palawan and Kalayaan including the Spratlys, neither confirms nor denies the claim of the senior military officer.
In a text message sent to InterAksyon.com, Westcom spokesperson Lieutenant Cherryl Tindog just said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and not the military is in charge of providing information to the public about territorial issues in the West Philippine Sea.
Tindog says what the Westcom does is to forward to concerned authorities all reports necessary to support the Philippine government’s actions in protecting its claim to the territories.
The Philippine has protested what it calls the "provocative and illegal presence" of two Chinese surveillance vessels and a military ship within KIG’s Ayungin Reef.
Manila has also called on Beijing to respect Manila’s sovereignty over its waters.
The Philippines says two Chinese maritime surveillance ships and a warship have been spotted off the reef. The Chinese ships appear to have accompanied some 30 fishing vessels from China, which are scattered around Ayungin.
But the senior military officer thinks the protest isn’t enough.
“That’s for provocative and illegal presence. Eh sinisira na nila ‘yong yamang dagat natin sa Ayungin na tayo dapat ang nakikinabang. Parang di yata sapat [But they are already destroying our marine resources in Ayungin, which we should have benefitted from. I think it's not enough],” the officer says.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/62371/as-mayor-longs-for-development-in-kalayaan-others-fear-chinas-rape-of-the-islands
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