Improvements for military facilities in Kalayaan underway

By Tristan Ray I. Besa
The Palawan Times


Keep your fingers crossed on this one. The military facilities in the Kalayaan Island will be upgraded and improved, National Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin said during his visit at the Western Command (WESCOM) last November 9, in line with the modernization program that the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is presently pushing for. The defense secretary, who was accompanied by the AFP Chief of Staff LtGen Ricardo A. David Jr., made an assessment of the current condition of the military facilities in the area with which they will base the improvement and upgrading they will implement. He said he also wanted to personally see the condition of the soldiers assigned in the area. In addition, Gazmin said they are also planning to construct a dock port in the island. Presently, the island of Kalayaan does not have one, while the neighboring islands occupied by the other Asian states already have several access infrastructures in place. The Kalayaan Island, which the Philippines is staking a claim, is part of the Spratly Archipelago which other Asian nations, including China, Vietnam and Malaysia, claim in whole or in part. The upgrading of military facilities in Kalayaan, according to the defense secretary, is a recognition of the important responsibilities that WESCOM carry out. When a local reporter pointed out in a press conference during the secretary’s visit that improvements of the military facilities in Kalayaan have already been proposed by previous administration but turned into nothing in the end, Gazmin said they are also working on putting into place a program that will ensure the continuity of the projects even if the leadership will change. He explained that one of the primary hindrances in the implementation of AFP projects in the past is that a good project may be shoved into the backburner because a leader has been replaced by another who wants a different project. The program they are ironing out will ensure the continuity of projects despite the change in leadership.