A YouTube channel passed off an old clip of a drill as one that supposedly shows the Japanese Coast Guard sending ships lately to Pag-asa Island to drive away Chinese vessels.
The Philippines has effectively occupied Pag-asa Island (international name:Thitu) since 1978 and has incorporated it as a municipality that is part of the Province of Palawan. There have been elections for the municipal officials of Pag-asa, and there will be elections there in May 2019 like in the rest of the archipelago. There are 400 voters in Pag-asa. Pag-asa has a land area of 37.2 hectares.
In order to answer how best to secure Philippine interests in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) and West Philippine Sea (WPS), we should put it first in the context of where Philippine policy is. That policy, sadly, is both fragmented and incoherent, at best.
While the public was engrossed with the scandal of how 605 kilos of shabu from China worth P6.5 billion slipped through the Bureau of Custom and entertained by the Bautista vs Bautista family feud with a cameo role by President Duterte, a chunk of Philippine territory was being taken over by China.
