Recto laments ‘measly’ budget for military upgrade in Pag-asa

MANILA, Philippines — Is P80 million all the Philippines can afford to improve its military facilities in Pag-asa Island in Kalayaan, Palawan?

Batangas Rep. Ralph Recto raised the question, citing the “measly” amount allocated in the proposed 2024 national budget for the improvement of the country’s defense in the island community.

“For all the loud noises government makes in defending what is ours in the West Philippine Sea, it seems that the funds it is proposing in the 2024 national budget for improving military facilities in Pag-asa Island in Kalayaan, Palawan amount to a whimper,” he said.

Recto said only two projects were tagged as “itemized expenditure” in the 2024 budget under the P3.8-billion “Tatag ng Imprastraktura para sa Kapayapaan at Seguridad Program” or TIKAS program of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

One of the projects costing P40 million is for the construction of “igloo-style ammunition storage” while the other one, also P40 million, is for the establishment of two-story military personnel barracks in Pag-Asa island.

The share of Pag-asa Island, home to the Rancudo Air Station and Liwanag Naval Station, translates to a mere 2.1 percent of TIKAS funds.

Recto is hopeful there are funds hidden in other lumpsum funds such as the budget for the P50-billion Armed Forces of the Philippines Modernization for 2024, or in the proposed capital outlays for the Navy at P5 billion and the Air Force at P3.25 billion.

“But if it is just P80 million then  who would have thought that the government will be proposing a budget that small for a frontline military outpost in the middle of an area rife with tension?” he noted.

The lawmaker noted that the Maagnas airstrip in Rancudo Air Station in the island needs “shore protection” but not a single centavo from the P215 billion in proposed flood control funds has been earmarked for it for 2024.

“P80 million is nothing if we compare it with the P15.9 billion for the feasibility studies of DPWH.  It is also nothing if compared with the P15.2 billion for road safety and maintenance projects which will be funded by the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge (MVUC),” he added.

According to Recto, if P80 million “is all there is, then we will be spending more for road guardrails than on an island that guards our interest in the disputed area.”

“Our occupation of Pag-Asa is unchallenged. Conventional wisdom dictates that we transform an island we physically possess into a bulwark,” he said.

“Intruders in the area are expanding their real estate, through massive reclamation, while ours is in danger of shrinking through coastal erosion,” he added.