Located deep in the South China Sea, Pag-asa Island is possibly the remotest village in the country. Internationally referred to as Thitu Island, Pag-asa Island is the second largest (32.7 hectares) among the disputed Spratly Islands, all or parts of which are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia. (The largest is Itu Aba Island, currently occupied by Taiwan.) Pag-asa Island goes by the name of Zhongye Dao (中业岛) in China and Taiwan and Đảo Thị Tứ in Vietnam. It lies 280 nautical miles west of Puerto Princesa City.
Pag-asa Island serves as the poblacion (town proper) of the Municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan, more popularly known as the Kalayaan Group of Islands, which covers most, but not all, of the Spratlys. Pag-asa is also the name of the only barangay of Kalayaan, making Kalayaan one of the only town or city three towns in the Philippines to be composed of only one barangay. (I suppose that the mayor and municipal council also serves as the baranggay chairman and council as well.) The municipality is home to about 300 Filipinos with an additional 40 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Quirkily, Pag-asa’s police force has only one person!
As can be seen from the satellite image, the island is dominated by a 1.4-kilometer airstrip that juts out of both ends of the island. Pag-asa also has a small municipal building, a health center, a multipurpose hall, a water-filtration plant, and a Smart Communications cell site. (Smart really has the widest coverage! Hehehe.) For power, the island uses an electric generator by day and stored solar power by night that comes from a 1.5 kV solar power plant. Two commercial flights come to the island weekly and the Philippine Navy regularly drops off supplies to the island.
Bonus: can you spot the the grounded ship? This is most probably the BRP Benguet, a Navy vessel which ran aground on the reefs on December 2, 2004 while delivering supplies.
Download KML file (for Google Earth)
4 people have responsed to “Pag-asa Island”
More information for interested visitors please. like how to get there and where to stay.
As additioanl information, the lone barangay of Kalayaan has a complete set of barangay officials..
i don’t think its open for public or tourists yet, but if you do have relatives who work in the DND then you may have a slim chance of joining one of the troops who go there, there will be a trip this coming summer but again unless you are a kin of any ARMY officer who oversees the place then you can go there. It’s a beautiful place, hopefully projects will be made soon enough for it.
@Jill, thanks for that additional info! It was very informative.