Marcos: All Kalayaan Island Group features must have Filipino names
President Marcos has ordered the adoption of Philippine names for the 131 maritime features in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) to reinforce its sovereignty in the area.
KIG lies on the western section of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, but its features form part of the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines has occupied nine features in the KIG since the 1970s: Rizal (Commodore) Reef; Patag (Flat) Island; Panata (Melchora Aquino Cay/Loaita Cay) Island; Kota (Loaita) Island, Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, Likas (West York) Island, Lawak (Nanshan) Island, Parola (Northeast) Island, and Pag-asa (Thitu) Island.
Pag-asa is the only Philippine-inhabited island in the Spratlys archipelago and is part of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan province.
“It is imperative to adopt a standard set of Philippine names for the maritime features in the KIG for the efficient administration and governance of the area, and the exercise of the country’s sovereignty in the WPS,” states Executive Order No. 111, which was issued on March 26, but was uploaded on the Official Gazette on Tuesday night.
Update charts, maps
The 131 KIG features include islets, sandbars, atolls, reefs, shoals and sand cays.
They include Parola (Northeast Cay) Island, Pugad (Southwest Cay) Island, Tatlong-tulis (Trident) Shoal, Bisugo (Lys) Shoal, and Likas (West York) Island, among others.
Through EO 111, the President ordered the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority to produce and publish updated charts and maps that reflect the local names.
Aquino admin mechanism
Mr. Marcos also directed all national agencies, government-owned and -controlled corporations, and financial institutions to likewise adopt the names in all official communications, messages, and documents.
He also instructed the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, and all state universities and colleges to use the standard names in conducting research, publishing textbooks, and preparing educational or instructional materials.
Manila prominently used the renaming mechanism in 2012 under the administration of then President Benigno Aquino. It began referring to the western maritime areas covered by the country’s exclusive economic zone as the West Philippine Sea.
The Philippines and China, along with Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims to areas of the South China Sea, most importantly the Spratlys, which are believed to sit on vast oil and gas resources.
Beijing claims the South China Sea in nearly in its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Philippines laid claim to the KIG in in 1955 before occupying Pag-asa in the 1970s. Filipino civilians and soldiers and their families have since settled there.
Over the last decade, China has occupied islands and reefs in the Spratlys, fortifying these with military infrastructure, including radar and communications arrays, airstrips and hangars, and surface-to-air and antiship cruise missile systems.
Right to name features
The National Maritime Council last year recommended the adoption of a standard set of Philippine names for the KIG features.
It said that doing so would “help demonstrate the Philippines’ right to name such features within its sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
It also serves to further implement Republic Act No. 12064, or the 2024 Philippine Maritime Zones Act, which provides that the maritime zones on the archipelago’s western side, including the Luzon Sea and the territorial seas of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, or Bajo de Masinloc, and the maritime features of the KIG, shall be collectively called the West Philippine Sea. —WITH A REPORT FROM AFP
