Government allots P800 million for new port in Kalayaan

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine government has earmarked P800 million for the construction of a new port in the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea to beef up maritime security and provide refuge to bullied fishermen.

The fund has been included in the 2024 General Appropriations Law amid China’s continuing artificial island building in the Spratly archipelago, according to Makati City 2nd District Rep. Luis Campos Jr.

“The sum for the Lawak shelter port is itemized in the 2024 Maritime Transportation Infrastructure Program,” Campos said, noting that the Department of Transportation will build the new port on Lawak Island.

Lawak is the second largest landmass in the Philippine-administered Kalayaan Island Group, located in the northeastern section of the Spratly archipelago.

A shelter port is a facility where boats, including those for fishing, can seek refuge through anchorages with access channels, breakwaters and jetties, among other structures.

“The P800 million for the Lawak shelter port is on top of, and separate from, the P1.5 billion for the expansion of the airport on Pag-asa Island,” Campos, vice chair of the House committee on appropriations, pointed out. 

“The shelter port and the airport expansion projects give substance to House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s pledge to develop the Kalayaan Island Group in a bid to encourage civilian settlements there,” he added.

With a land area of 7.93 hectares, Lawak is located 157 kilometers east of Pag-asa, which has a land area of 37.2 hectares.

A sixth-class municipality, Kalayaan is the least populated town in the Philippines, with only 193 residents who all live in Pag-asa, according to the 2020 census. 

The Kalayaan municipal government is based in Pag-asa.