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On this tiny piece of land, 389 Filipinos have settled down and made a home, making them a remote yet closely monitored community with a direct stake in the future of the disputed South China Sea.
Among them is Marilou Vales, 54, who first visited this 37-hectare island in 2004.
Pag-asa back then had no pier, so they had to disembark from their ship while still quite far from the coast, using a rope ladder to transfer to a rubber boat for the final stretch to the shore. Vales arrived as part of a summer tour organized by the municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan province, where she worked as a local government employee.
After that, she frequently visited the island until she agreed to stay permanently in 2021.
Her official designation today is “island coordinator,” one tasked with overseeing the needs of the residents and reporting regularly to the town mayor, whose office is in Puerto Princesa City, the provincial capital.
Internationally known as Thitu, Pag-asa is part of the cluster of islands known as the Spratlys and one of the seven that make up Kalayaan. In more geopolitical terms, it is the only Philippine-controlled outpost in the Spratlys with civilian occupants—an assertion of the country’s sovereignty in the face of China’s expansionist claims in the South China Sea.
But far from what Vales saw when she first laid eyes on Pag-asa, the island now does not only have a pier but also a sheltered port and beaching ramp, developments that have significantly eased travel.
The old 1.3-kilometer runway, which used to be grassy and easily got muddy whenever it rained, will soon get an upgrade as part of a P3.2-billion plan under the proposed 2025 national budget to improve state facilities in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the area within the South China Sea that marks the country’s exclusive economic zone. The designation of this area as WPS, covering the waters off Batanes to Palawan, started in 2011 during the Benigno Aquino III administration.
Construction of a new hangar started in 2022 and is expected to be finished before the end of this year, said Vice Adm. Alfonso Torres Jr., commander of the Western Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which has jurisdiction over the WPS.
The state weather bureau is also setting up a synoptic station on the island for more accurate forecasting for the benefit of the civilian residents and military contingents stationed here.
These upgrades, according to Col. Francel Margareth Padilla, the AFP spokesperson, are “a strategic investment in strengthening our external defense posture. These infrastructure improvements would enhance logistical support and operational readiness for our personnel, ensuring that we remain prepared to safeguard our national interests.”
Like any regular barangay (village) in the Philippines, Pag-asa now has a school, a health center, a police station, water and power supplies and a relatively reliable mobile phone service. There’s at least one nurse and a midwife on call, while a doctor occasionally comes to visit from mainland Palawan.
Electricity became 24/7 starting in 2018, while access to potable water is maintained through a filtration system.
A handful of “sari-sari” stores operate, though the goods shipped from Palawan once or twice a month tend to be pricier due to the transport costs entailed by the 480-km trip from the mainland.
