Thitu Island
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Thitu Island or Pagasa Island (Tagalog: Pagasa; traditional Chinese: 中業島; simplified Chinese: 中业岛; pinyin: Zhōngyè Dǎo; Vietnamese: Đảo Thị Tứ), having an area of 37.2 hectares is the second largest Spratly Island and the largest of all Philippine-occupied Spratly islands. It serves as a poblacion or town proper to the Municipality of Kalayaan, a municipality of the Province of Palawan. It lies about 300 miles (483 km) west of Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan. It is claimed by China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Pagasa is the Tagalog word for hope.
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[edit] Military
It was occupied by the Philippines since 1968. Being one of the largest, just after Taiwanese-occupied Itu Aba Island which is 46 hectares, it is tightly protected by the Philippine forces. The China, Taiwan and Vietnam are claiming this island. 40 out of 60 Filipino soldiers stationed in all Philippine-occupied features are assigned in Pagasa Island. It has a 1.4 kilometres (1,531 yd) unconcretized airstrip (named as Rancudo Airfield[1]) which serves both military and commercial air transportation needs. It is the only airstrip in the whole Spratly chain that can accommodate large aircraft, such as Philippine Air Force's (PAF) C130 cargo planes. PAF regularly sends fighter jets from Palawan to make reconnaissance missions in Philippine-controlled regions in the Spratly chain. The presence of a long airstrip in Pagasa Island makes such reconnaissance missions easier.
[edit] Municipality of Kalayaan
Kalayaan is the only municipality in the Philippines to have a single barangay which is Pagasa. All municipalities and cities in the Philippines are further divided into smaller political subdivisions called barangays. Because only Pagasa Island among all Philippine-occupied Spratly islands is currently inhabited by civilian Filipinos, other islands cannot have a barangay status. The civilian population, about 300 which includes children, was introduced in 2001 to strengthen Kalayaan's status as a municipality. However, less than 200 civilian Filipinos are present in the island at a time. Others have works to attend to in Palawan mainland.
Pagasa is the only Philippine-occupied island to have a significant number of structures. (For the policy of the Philippines in building structures in Spratlys, please see Policies, activities and history of the Philippines in Spratly Islands). These include a municipal hall, multi-purpose hall, health center, school, water-filtration plant, marina, communication tower[2], and military barracks. Pagasa residents raise pigs, goats and chickens and plant crops in an alloted space to supplement their supplies of goods provided by a naval vessel which visits once a month. By day, the residents get electricity from a power generator owned by the municipality. By night, they shift to stored solar power which comes from 1.5V solar panels installed in the island.
[edit] Plans
Numerous plans are to be done in Pagasa. One of the plans, proposed by the Philippine Navy since 1999, is to create a long causeway that leads all the way to a deep water region.[1] Pagasa is completely surrounded by its expansive shallow coral base. This caused the Navy to have one of its ship, the BRP Benguet, run aground when it tried to dock near the island in 2004. The damaged ship is still there up to this day. Also, the Navy is proposing that a naval base be built in Pagasa where the Philippine Navy's elite Special Warfare Group (SWAG) and Navy Seals can train.
The Municipality of Kalayaan, on the other hand, proposes that the island be developed for tourism. Pagasa Island has a white sand coastline. It is filled with trees and is a sanctuary of several species of sea birds. Its wide coral base can serve as a good diving spot.
[edit] Environment
The municipality have a long-standing policy of protecting the island's environment. Aerial photos (by Google Maps) of Pagasa Island reveal that more than 70% of the island is still covered with trees. This is in contrast with islands occupied by Vietnam where many trees were already cut down. Meanwhile, other Philippine-occupied islands that have no civilian population, except for Panata Island (Lankiam Cay) and Patag Island (Flat Island) which are sand cays, are still almost 100% covered with vegetation. Only few structures were built in these islands which serves as shelters for the soldiers. These islands are expected to be populated too with civilian Filipinos in the near future.
[edit] See also
- Spratly Islands
- Kalayaan, Palawan
- Policies, activities and history of the Philippines in Spratly Islands
