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Helen Flores - The Philippine Star
February 8, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — In the face of an opposition senator’s suggestion that the Philippines give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in Palawan, President Marcos has again made it clear that not a single inch of the country’s territory would be surrendered to any foreign power.
“Ipagpapatuloy ng Presidente ang kaniyang polisiya na ipaglalaban natin. Even an inch of our territory ay hindi isu-surrender sa foreign powers (The President will continue his policy of defending what’s ours. Even an inch of the country’s territory will never be surrendered to foreign powers),” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro told “Balitanghali” on Friday.
Castro reiterated the President’s position after Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was quoted in a news report as saying that some of the KIG features are “way beyond” the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“There are islands we occupy – the KIG. The KIG has four features – Pag asa, Parola, Kota and Linkiam. Incidentally, these four features are way, way beyond our EEZ. They’re outside the coverage of EEZ,” Marcoleta said.
After drawing flak, Marcoleta on Friday claimed he was taken out of context and that he only wanted to emphasize that the arbitral award in July 2016 does not cover the KIG.
Castro, meanwhile, said that in contesting China’s illegally claiming the KIG and other land features in the West Philippine Sea, diplomacy – particularly through the Department of Foreign Affairs – should take precedence.
“Let the President and the DFA decide on the matter,” she said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson also rejected Marcoleta’s suggestion, saying giving up KIG “is no different from giving up Luzon Island or the entire country.”
“Under international law, first discovery and possession of land that belongs to no one under the legal principle of ‘res nullius’ or ‘terra nullius’ is a recognized mode of sovereign ownership. Even non-lawyers were taught this in school,” Lacson said in a post on X.
Lacson cited the principle of res nullius, under which territory considered to belong to no one may be acquired through discovery and occupation.
He noted that lawyer and adventurer Tomas Cloma discovered and occupied parts of the Spratly Islands, later turning over his claim to the Philippine government.
The issue surfaced during a recent Commission on Appointments hearing, where Lacson invoked the legal doctrine in defending the country’s claim over the KIG.
Lacson, who visited the KIG in 2021, pointed out that Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan with around 300 Filipino families living on Pag-asa Island.
“When I heard Sen. Marcoleta say that we should give up KIG, I had to clear the issue and assert why KIG is ours. Sen. Marcoleta claimed the KIG is outside the EEZ, and I cannot accept that because there were Filipinos living on Pagasa Island,” he said.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations, said that he would move to strike Marcoleta’s assertions regarding the KIG from the records of the chamber.
“I’ve also been reading suggestion from the Kalayaan municipality to strike that out in our books. So since I’m the chair of the foreign relations committee, I’ll ask the Senate President if we can strike it out,” Tulfo told dwIZ yesterday.
Marcoleta claimed he never advocated surrendering the KIG and accused critics of “abbreviating the context” of his remarks.
“My detractors are implying that after my interpellation in the CA where 35 members of the AFP are to be confirmed, I informed them that for the WPS to be listed in the IHO (International Hydrographic Organization), we need to deposit maps to the UN to notify the world that we are usurping part of the high seas, including the KIG to the WPS since the KIG lies beyond our EEZ,” he said in an interview aired on 24 Oras Friday night.
“I said that is not possible because that will be violating the UNCLOS, unless of course we give up the KIG to solve the problem,” he added.
Kalayaan is the country’s lone municipality in the Spratly Islands and falls under the province of Palawan, where basic government services such as a town hall, school, health center and airstrip have been established. — Neil Jayson Servallos
