Kalayaan airport, shelter ports get P3B upgrade

THE government has allocated P3.03 billion this year to upgrade the airport and two shelter ports in the Kalayaan Island Group. Surigao del Sur 2nd District Rep. Johnny Pimentel said the three projects were included in the General Appropriations Act for 2025. "Congress has earmarked an additional P1.65 billion to develop the Pag-asa Island airport, plus P300 million for the [Pag-asa] shelter port," Pimentel 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," he said. The P3.03 billion is in addition to the combined P2.3 billion allocated by Congress for the Pag-asa airport and the Lawak shelter port in 2024, Pimentel said. The Kalayaan group has a total land area of 83.89 hectares. It includes the Ayungin Shoal, Balagtas Reef or Irving Reef, and Rizal Shoal or Commodore Reef, as well as the islets Likas, Parola, Kota, Patag and Panata. Pag-asa, which is 508 kilometers northwest of Puerto Princesa City, has a 37.2-hectare land area and is the group's biggest island. Lawak is 169 kilometers east of Pag-asa and, with a 7.93-hectare land area, is the fourth-biggest island in the group. The town of Kalayaan became part of the province of Palawan through a presidential decree issued in 1978 by then-president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Ayungin Shoal and Pag-asa have become hot spots in the maritime row between the Philippines and China.