MANILA, Philippines -- The Commission on Appointments (CA) on Tuesday confirmed the promotion of 57 senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) -- including the wife of a descendant of Tomas Cloma who discovered the Kalayaan Group of Island (KIG).
The CA approved the ad interim appointment of Jacquelyn Cloma to the rank of colonel in the AFP Nurse Corps, whose husband is a great-granson of the KIG discoverer.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson thanked Cloma's husband for his ancestor's role in discovering, occupying and eventually donating the KIG to the Philippines.
"Please extend my regards and I’d like to thank him on behalf of his lolo-sa-tuhod (great grandfather), Tomas Cloma, for discovering and occupying and owning and donating to the Philippine government the Kalayaan Island Group," Lacson told her when she faced the CA's committee on defense.
In February, Lacson rejected Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s suggestion that the Philippines give up the KIG, which he maintained belongs to the Philippines by virtue of a long-standing legal principle of “res nullius."
The Senate president pro tempore said under “res nullius,” whoever discovers and occupies the land is recognized as its owner.
In the case of the Spratly Islands, Tomas Cloma discovered the Spratly islands and occupied them. He later turned over the ownership of the land to the Philippine government, Lacson said.
There are currently Filipino families occupying the KIG, a town in Palawan which Lacson visited in 2021.
