DENR joins Pag-Asa Island research expedition

A team from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources visited Pag-Asa Island on 23 October 2023, led by DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo Loyzaga.

The visit included a site inspection of the area surrounding Pag-Asa Island, including Sandy Cay 2, and coincided with the arrival of the M/V Panata research vessel of the University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute for its bi-annual research expedition to the Kalayaan Island Group and the West Philippine Sea.

Loyzaga is the second Cabinet-level official to visit Pag-Asa Island in recent years, and the first DENR Secretary to do so. She was joined by other DENR officials, namely, Undersecretaries Augusto Dela Pena, Analiza Rebuelta-Teh and Juan Miguel Cuna; Assistant Secretaries Gilbert Gonzales and Marcial Amaro, Jr., the respective Directors of the Environmental Management Bureau and the Biodiversity Management Bureau; and Palawan Council for Sustainable Development Executive Director Teodoro Matta.

The DENR team was joined by Dr. Fernando Siringan, Dr. Jose Fernando Alcantara and Dr. Rolando Tolentino from UP-MSI. They were met on Pag-Asa Island by Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos, Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command, and Kalayaan Municipal Mayor Roberto Del Mundo.

The DENR, UP-MSI, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and Wescom teams discussed with Del Mundo and the Kalayaan government officials plans to expand research and monitoring in Pag-Asa Island and peripheral areas. Scientific studies have established that the marine ecosystem in the Kalayaan Island Group is a critical biodiversity area, and is crucial for the sustainable supply of fish and coral larvae in the Philippines and the region.

"The discussion was on the environmental sustainability of the island and the research needed for understanding of marine environments and value of these ecosystems to livelihoods, food security in the Philippines and the region and the global need to ensure the ocean's climate regulatory functions. Given the implications, we need to actually determine an ecological boundary rather than administrative lines," Loyzaga explained.

She and the DENR team visited the research station of UP-MSI on Pag-Asa Island, where the team is in the thick of field and oceanographic surveys as part of the periodic monitoring of the immediate environment around Pag-Asa Island. The research is partly funded by the Philippine Ocean Monitoring and Prediction System project of the national government.

The group boarded the research vessel for a site inspection and docked at Sandy Cay 2, an islet just two miles off Pag-Asa Island, to check the crushed corals littered on the beach.

Loyzaga and Del Mundo also discussed possible interventions for the priority needs of the municipality's residents and the sustainable development of the island, such as the area's carrying capacity and need for water, sewerage and solid waste management systems.

Pag-Asa Island serves as the hub of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan — the smallest in the Philippines with a population of 193, but the largest in terms of jurisdiction, with an area spanning almost 65,000 square miles.