2 Philippine-occupied features in Spratlys to get P3 billion in airport, ports

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has allocated P3.03 billion in this year's budget to build ports and an airport on two of its remote outposts in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

The 2025 General Appropriations Act, signed on December 30, earmarked P1.65 billion for the "expansion" or "development" of an airport in Pag-asa (Thitu) Island, where a P300-million-sheltered port will also be built. A separate P1.08 billion has been earmarked for another sheltered port facility on Lawak (Nanshan) Island.

These projects will be funded and carried out by the Department of Transportation. 

Both islands are under the jurisdiction of the Kalayaan municipality in Palawan — a sixth-class municipality that is also the country's least populated town. All 193 residents live in Pagasa, according to the government's 2020 census. 

Located some 300 kilometers west of mainland Palawan, Pag-asa is the largest Philippine-occupied feature in the Spratlys and is the seat of government of the Kalayaan municipality. There is no regular commercial transportation from mainland Palawan to Pag-asa. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last year tagged the construction of an airport in Pag-asa as one of the government's priorities. Procurement for the runway extension of the airport was already underway as of July 2024, according to a Presidential Communications Office release. 

The government's push to develop the two islands comes after Beijing's years-long building of islands in the Spratlys, and, more broadly, the South China Sea. It claims sovereignty over the near-entirety of the sea despite a 2016 arbitral ruling that struck down its so-called nine-dash line. 

Last year, the Philippine Navy confirmed that China has fully militarized Subi Reef, a feature located outside the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone but within Paga-sa Island's 12-nautical mile territorial sea. 

Pag-asa itself lies outside the Philippines' EEZ but has been occupied and administered by the Philippines since 1971.

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Besides Pag-asa and Lawak, the Philippines maintains its presence on seven other features in the Spratlys: Likas (West York), Parola (Northeast Cay), Kota (Loaita), Patag (Flat Island), Panata (Lankiam Cay), Rizal (Commodore Reef) and Ayungin (Second Thomas Shoal), where the dilapidated warship BRP Sierra Madre serves as an outpost.