By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — The Philippines is not conducting any land reclamation activity on Pag-asa Island, the largest feature occupied by the country in the Kalayaan Island Group.
This was stated by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday when sought for a comment on reports made by Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative claiming that the country is conducting reclamation work covering 32,000 square meters.
“As of now, only the beaching ramp is being undertaken. Next is the concreting of the runway (Rancudo Airfield) and the third phase involves the lengthening of the airfield,” he added.
Rancudo Airfield measures 1.4 km. and is capable of handling medium-sized aircraft like the Air Force’s Lockheed C-130 “Hercules” cargo planes.
“Reclamation means there is land before and you are reclaiming the land back. Since there is no land but water, we call it filling up the space with stones, gravel and soil,” Lorenzana said.
