Passage to south

At Wednesday’s launch of the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Initiative, my thoughts kept turning to Tawi-Tawi. Not only to the ships passing through its waters, but to the people and possibilities along its shores.

The gathering also marked the first anniversary of the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Center Inc. (PASLCI). Among its principal movers are retired Philippine Coast Guard Vice Admiral Joseph M. Coyme, former Undersecretary Arturo “Art” Valdez, who led the Voyage of the Balangay, and other seasoned maritime professionals, including retired Coast Guard officers.

Their expertise helps frame the work of putting the Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes Act into practice. What especially caught my attention was their willingness to look beyond navigation toward the lives of coastal communities.

It resonated because I have looked toward that corner of our map for nearly 20 years.

I first visited in the mid-2000s, representing my father at an event hosted by Mindanao State University’s (MSU) Tawi-Tawi campus. I stayed only a couple of days, but I remember Bongao Peak, powdery white sands along island shores and waters alive with marine life. Seafood seemed so plentiful it could leap straight from the sea onto the roadside stalls. I remember, too, people eager to see their province develop.

Since then, I have spoken of Tawi-Tawi as a promising destination for tourism and enterprise.

I returned in late 2024, again for a university event. Flights seemed more frequent, and the main road leading to the campus was noticeably busier, its sides crowded with activity. I have written elsewhere about the strides made by MSU Tawi-Tawi. What struck me this time was how much had changed beyond its gates.

These were only impressions, but they renewed an old conviction.

Tawi-Tawi is often remembered as an early gateway of Islam into the Philippines. Tradition recalls Sheikh Karimul Makhdum’s arrival on Simunul in 1380 and the establishment of one of our earliest mosques. Yet these waters carried more than faith. Long before today’s borders, the Sulu maritime world connected people through trade, travel and culture.

Former Undersecretary Valdez’s Voyage of the Balangay drew on the skills of traditional Sama boatbuilders from Sibutu and Sitangkai. Their craftsmanship reminds us that the maritime heritage of the southern Philippines is not confined to history books. Much of it remains alive in the knowledge and traditions of its people.

From Manila, Tawi-Tawi may look like the far end of our map. From maritime Southeast Asia, it is a place of connections.

Republic Act 12065, enacted in 2024, identifies a sea-lane route through the Sibutu Passage, between the Celebes and Sulu seas. Its operationalization requires technical preparation, government coordination and international processes. The law concerns navigation and maritime rights; it does not, by itself, build an economy.

But it invites us to consider what else might grow around those routes.

The PASLCI has proposed exploring a maritime economic and logistics hub in Tawi-Tawi.

Fisheries and aquaculture processing, cold storage, ship services, halal enterprises and regional trade could link opportunities across Sulu, Basilan, Zamboanga and the wider Mindanao economy.

Of course, ships may pass through without stopping. Promise becomes prosperity only when sound investment, infrastructure and local enterprise meet real demand, while protecting the waters on which these livelihoods depend. Above all, the people whose lives have long been shaped by these seas must have a meaningful part in what comes next.

I think again of the beaches, the seafood stalls, and the busier road to the university. The beauty that first drew my attention remains, but today I see another reason to look south.

Perhaps the invitation is simple: look toward the South once more, not only to remember how faith and commerce once traversed its waters, but to imagine what new passages of opportunity might yet open for its people.