|
By Anthony Vargas, Reporter
PAG-ASA Island, Kalayaan Group of
Islands: This postage stamp-size island, about 500 kilometers west
of Palawan, could be a major tourist spot, as far as military and
defense officials are concerned.
But before this could happen, the
government must start fixing its deteriorating facilities, Defense
Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said.
“We already have plans for
rehabilitating [some] of the facilities here… which some already
deteriorating,” Ebdane told reporters who accompanied him last
week on a trip to the island.
For starters, the airstrip, a
portion of which has collapsed, needs immediate repair.
Ebdane said the military has
allotted P31 million to refurbish the airstrip, which is long enough
to accommodate a C-130 cargo plane.
The Armed Forces chief of staff,
General Hermogenes Esperon Jr., said the funds have been released
for the runway’s rehabilitation, which would take from five to six
months.
“We have already released the
funds, about P31 million for the repair of the runway… the
airstrip itself needs improvement. We will see how to source
additional funds,” Esperon said.
He said he would find ways to get
funding for the projects to develop the island.
Edbane and Esperon went to
Pag-Asa Island on Thursday to install a P13-million mobile water
treatment plant donated by the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage
System.
The Western Command (Wescom)
chief, Vice-Adm. Tirso Danga, said that several businessmen were
interested to transform the island into a diving and fishing resort.
“There are proposals from some
entrepreneurs to develop resorts here to entice Filipinos [to
visit]. This [development] is also part of national patrimony,”
Danga told reporters.
He said Pag-Asa Island has the
potential to rival Boracay Island, the country’s biggest tourist
draw, in Aklan.
“We can have a diving resort
here, fishing also. You can see the white sand beach is very
beautiful,” Danga said, “This [island] is ours. It’s ours. We
might as well develop it.” Danga said.
Pag-Asa is the biggest of six
islands occupied by Filipino troops in the disputed Spratly chain at
the southern tip of South China Sea.
Aside from the Philippines, the
other countries with claims on the Spratlys, believed to be rich in
mineral deposits, are China, Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia and Vietnam.
|
