ASEANEWS HEADLINES: ‘PH begins runway repairs at Pag-asa’

THE repair of the crumbling runway on Pag-asa (Thitu) Island has finally begun more than a year after it was announced.

In a double-feature study released on Saturday, the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the Philippines had commenced the repair of the runway in the largest of its nine outposts in the Spratly Islands (Kalayaan Island Group).

Pag-asa Island is 12 nautical miles from the air and naval base built by China on Subi (Zamora) Reef, close to Palawan island.

The island, home to more than 100 civilians, was the site of a standoff with a Chinese flotilla in August last year.
It is also considered the largest island occupied by the Philippines within the disputed Spratlys.

The AMTI showed satellite images dated May 17 this year, revealing that two barges were anchored off the western portion of Pag-asa Island runway, which collapsed into the sea years ago.

“It appears that a grab dredger, consisting of a crane with a clamshell bucket, is installed on the smaller barge to the west, while the other carries a backhoe,” the AMTI said in its report.

In April last year, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, then Armed Forces chief Eduardo Año, then Western Command chief Raul del Rosario and other high-ranking military officials went to Pag-asa Island.

Lorenzana announced that the Philippines would be initiating the repair of the runway on Pag-asa Island.
Their visit alarmed Chinese officials.

First runway

The airstrip in Pag-asa was constructed during the 1970s and was the first runway built within the Kalayaan Island Group.

The runway is officially 1,300 meters long, but the real length is closer to 1,200 because of the collapsed portion.

According to AMTI, the restoration of the runway made by the Philippines was using a method “similar” to Vietnam’s in claiming an island within the Spratly archipelago.

“While [the method]is still harmful to the environment, it affects surrounding reefs at a smaller scale and is far less environmentally destructive than the suction cutter dredging undertaken by China, which destroyed thousands of acres of reef from late 2013 to early 2017,” it noted.

The think tank also noted that the coral reef surrounding Pag-asa gave a hard time to approaching large ships.

This was evidenced by the “rusting hulk” of the Philippine Navy’s BRP Lanao del Norte (LT-504), which approached the northwest edge of the coral reef in 2004 and is still there.

The repair of Pag-asa’s runway was proposed in 2014, with several officials of the military saying that a channel needed to be dredged to allow larger ships to deliver heavy machinery and construction materials to the island.

“It is likely that dredging such a channel is still part of the plan this time around,” the AMTI said.

Difficult landing

Because of the condition of the runway surface on the western portion, it was difficult for Philippine Air Force aircraft to land and take off.

One example was the C-130 plane that carried then Armed Forces chief Gregorio Catapang Jr. to the island in May 2015.

Aside from the long-delayed project to reconstruct the runway, the AMTI also noted “other upgrades” visible around the Pag-asa Island.

It showed satellite images of at least seven new buildings constructed last year, four located near the residential area on the eastern side of the island and one near at the western end next to the island’s basketball court.

Last year, Lorenzana mentioned that a beach ramp would have to be constructed first to assist the supplier of the materials for the reconstruction.

Satellite images released by the AMTI did not show any ramp because of a cloud cover, “and no new ramp was visible as recently as February.”

Other islands

The AMTI also showed before-and-after satellite images of several islands of the Philippines in Spratlys, including the Rizal (Commodore) Reef, Lawak (Nanshan) Island and Panata (Loaita) Island.

An image dated May 1 showed that a new round-roofed shelter was constructed on the eastern side of the outpost on Rizal Reef.

An empty field in Lawak Island was seen converted into a helipad based on the satellite image dated February 20 this year.

On Panata Island, an additional hexagonal shelter has accompanied the outpost established there, which was visible in the image dated May 17.

The AMTI noted that Panata Island was “often misreported” as being on Lankiam Cay, to the east of Panata.

“While reports suggest Lankiam was once a small sandy cay, it appears to have been washed away, leaving only a submerged reef and a small, shifting sand bar,” it said.

“If there was ever a Filipino facility there, it was moved to Loaita Cay and took the name ‘Panata Island’ on it,” it added.

The Philippines also has outposts on Kota (Loaita) Island, Parola (Northeast Cay) Island, Parola (West York) Island, Patag (Flat) Island and Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal.

Ayungin Shoal is where the “purposely grounded” BRP Sierra Madre serves as a permanent facility, where members of the Philippine Marine Corps are stationed.

The Philippines also claims Balagtas (Irving) Reef.

For Jay Batongbacal, director for the University of the Philippines Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, the reconstruction on the damaged runway was “overdue.”

“The repairs are overdue actions on existing facilities, and do not significantly change the situation between the claimants in the [Spratly] area,” Batongbacal told The Manila Times.

Earlier this month, the AMTI reported that Beijing had landed H-6K aircraft bombers on Woody Island in the Paracels, within striking distance of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, among others.

BY DEMPSEY REYES ON MAY 27, 2018

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