SENATE President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said Saturday that the option to give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) to settle the territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea is tantamount to surrendering Luzon or even the entire country to Beijing.
“‘Giving up’ the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) is no different from giving up Luzon Island or the entire country,” Lacson said in a post on X. “Under international law, first discovery and possession of land that belongs to no one under the legal principle of res nullius or terra nullius is a recognized mode of sovereign ownership. Even non-lawyers were taught this in school.”
The senator made the remarks following a tense exchange during a recent Commission on Appointments hearing, where Sen. Rodante Marcoleta suggested that the Philippines consider “giving up” the Kalayaan Group of Islands on the argument that its features lie “way beyond” the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“That’s what I can’t miss,” Lacson said in an interview Thursday, stressing that such a position ignores both legal history and realities on the ground.
Lacson pointed to the role of Tomas Cloma, a Filipino lawyer, businessman, and adventurer, who in the 1950s explored and occupied parts of what is now known as the Spratly Islands.
Cloma declared the area as territory under res nullius and later transferred his claim to the Philippine government, forming the historical basis of the country’s assertion over the KIG.
The senator described the principle as a “long-standing and well-established” foundation for Philippine sovereignty over the area.
Beyond legal doctrine, Lacson underscored the human dimension of the issue.
The KIG, he said, is not an abstract claim but a functioning local government unit under Palawan province.
The municipality of Kalayaan, with Pag-asa (Thitu) Island as its seat, is home to about 300 Filipino families, as well as civilian facilities, a school, and local government offices.
“I cannot accept the argument that KIG is outside our concern simply because it is allegedly beyond the EEZ,” Lacson said in Filipino. “There are Filipinos living on Pag-asa Island. Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan.”
Lacson, who personally visited the Kalayaan Island Group in 2021, said abandoning the territory would not only undermine the country’s legal position but also endanger Filipino communities already established there.
Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal states are entitled to a 200-nautical-mile EEZ, but Lacson noted that sovereignty over land features is a separate legal question from maritime entitlements.
Ownership of islands, he said, cannot be dismissed solely based on EEZ measurements.
The KIG forms part of the broader Spratly Islands, a strategically vital area claimed in whole or in part by several countries, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
The Philippines has repeatedly asserted its rights in the West Philippine Sea, bolstered by the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s expansive “nine-dash line” claim, although the ruling did not determine sovereignty over land features.
“When someone says we should give up KIG, we are not talking about rocks or distant reefs. We are talking about territory, people and sovereignty. That is something no Filipino leader should casually surrender,” Lacson said.
