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By Katrice R. Jalbuena<Reporter
One day, a boy from Bohol decided
to go fishing and stumbled onto a group of rocky islets that turned
out to be the Kalayaan Islands, part of the hotly disputed Spratlys.
The Spratlys is a group of 100
islands and reefs claimed in part or in whole by the Philippines,
China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.
The Kalayaan Islands are located
380 miles west of
the southernmost tip of Palawan
and were discovered in 1947 by the late Admiral Tomas Cloma, a
lawyer and fishing magnate, while on a “fishing trip.”
His granddaughter, Rizabel Cloma-Santos,
said, “When I was growing up, we never thought too much about my
grandfathers ‘misadventures.’ When we would ask him what he was
doing out there, he would just say that ‘that was where the fish
were.’”
Admiral Cloma was born on the
fishing island of Panglao and despite leaving the place when he was
age 15 because life there was “slow,” he retained a lifelong
attraction to the sea. Besides discovering the islands, he also
founded the PMI (Philippine Maritime Institute) College.
When he stumbled onto the
Kalayaan Islands, he noted it was abandoned except for tumbledown
buildings and vast flocks of seabirds. Besides being rich fishing
grounds, Admiral Cloma believed there was no reason to think the
islands will spark international disputes.
“I really don’t think that he
realized what trouble his discovery would cause,” said his
granddaughter, who now runs PMI. “As far as he was concerned, no
one else seemed to want it.”
So Admiral Cloma thought he
“will claim it.”
Plans for independence
Rizabel Cloma-Santos recalled
that, upon her grandfather’s death in September 1996, they
stumbled on documents outlining their grandfather’s plan for the
islands.
“He always told us that his
plans were basically to make a small sovereignty of the Kalayaans—something
like the Holy See or Monaco,” she said.
“There were plans for a council
of state and government structures. There were even printed
‘Kalayaan’ money. We used to play with the ‘Kalayaan’ money
as children,” she said.
The islands remained abandoned
until Admiral Cloma returned in May 11, 1956 with his brother,
Filimon, and 40 other men intending to settle in the islands.
On May 15, he posted his
“Notice to the Whole World” where he manifested his claim, and
on May 31 he declared the Kalayaan Islands the “Free Territories
of Freedomland.” On July 6, 1956 he declared his claim and set
about establishing a separate government with its capital on Patag
Island.
He worked to get his claim
recognized by the Philippines and also the international
communities.
However, this “formal”
declaration did not sit well with other nations, and in September
24, 1956, the Taiwanese government posted a garrison on one of the
islands.
Then in 1972 with the advent of
Martial Law, the Marcos government decided to take interest in the
Kalayaan, and Admiral Cloma was jailed for three years.
The official excuse for his
imprisonment was his use of the title of “Admiral.” Since he was
never been in the Navy, he was cited for alleged usurpation of
authority and misrepresentation.
The eventual price of his freedom
was to sign over his deed of assignment over the islands to the
Marcos government for P1.
“That is the basis of the
Philippines’ claim over the islands,” said Rizabel Cloma-Santos.
“Nobody wanted it, now everyone wants it and most people forget
the history behind it.”
Currently, Kalayaan is a
fifth-class municipality in Palawan with a population of 200 to 300,
mostly fishermen. In the municipal hall is a bust of Admiral Cloma,
which is a copy of the one found at PMI, and was requested by the
Mayor of Kalayaan from the surviving Clomas as “the only reason
Kalayaan is a municipality is because of Admiral Cloma.”
He was eventually released from
prison by then-General Fidel Ramos. On December 1995, in recognition
of his achievements, Ramos, who was already president, conveyed to
Cloma a Legion of Honor as the discoverer of the Kalayaan Islands
and a bastion of maritime education in the country. Ramos also
legitimized Cloma’s title as admiral.
“It’s funny, that the man who
signed the release for my grandfather—for impersonating an
admiral—was also the man who eventually legitimized my grandfather
as an admiral,” the granddaughter said.
Admiral Cloma died shortly after.
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