Repair efforts on Pagasa Island a go despite possible tension with China

Despite a reported unfavorable reaction from the Chinese Embassy in Manila, the Philippine military will continue with its plan to rehabilitate a runway on Pagasa Island, which is part of the disputed Kalayaan Group of Islands (KGI) or Spratly Islands. In an interview on Tuesday, Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said the “repair and maintenance" of the runway is “necessary" for the delivery of supply to the Navy personnel stationed on the island. He stressed that no new structure is being constructed in the area. “We would like to make it clear that we are not putting up [a] new structure there. What is happening there is repair and maintenance of the runway. The one undertaking that is the Air Force," Arevalo said. Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Ernesto Miguel Okol said the repair of the runway has yet to start. “Our 355th Air Engineering Wing will do the necessary repairs but work has not started yet," he said. A VERA Files report said Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao had informed the Department of Foreign Affairs that the military’s statement last week to inspect and rehabilitate facilities on Pagasa Island is not a welcome pronouncement at the heels of the August 23 Manila hostage tragedy that left eight Hong Kong tourists dead. Pagasa Island is among the several islands and islets composing the KGI that is occupied by Philippine government forces for the past decades. It is considered as part of Kalayaan town in Palawan province. The potentially oil and mineral rich Spratly Islands is being claimed in part or in whole by Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and China, considered as the strongest among the claimant countries as far as military might is concerned. In November 1999, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) — of which Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam are members — approved a new draft code of conduct requiring rival claimants to refrain "from taking action that would establish presence" in the South China Sea. Arevalo said the rehabilitation efforts on the island should not be considered as a violation of the Code of Conduct. “To us, we see nothing wrong with repairing an old existing structure, repairing it for purposes of maintenance, so we can use it, so that we can service our personnel there," he said. Arevalo also said the military has plans to rehabilitate the quarters of the troops on the island. The Department of National Defense (DND), meanwhile, is not aware of the ongoing rehabilitation efforts on the island. “As far as we know, there is none. It might be at the level of the [Armed Forces of the Philippines]. They may have a prepared plan there so it will just be a matter of pulling out those plans and deciding to implement it," said DND spokesman Eduardo Batac in a separate interview. Batac said Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen. Ricardo David may visit Pagasa Island as a side trip to their visit to the military’s Western Command headquarters in Palawan. No date yet has been set for the planned visit. — KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV