Lacson: Giving up Kalayaan Islands same as surrendering entire PH

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson said Saturday any suggestion to give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in Palawan would be tantamount to surrendering all of the Philippines.

"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 in X.

Lacson said Filipino adventurer Tomas Cloma found the Spratly islands and occupied them as under "res nullius," or that whoever discovers and occupies the land is recognized as its owner. Cloma then turned over the ownership of the land to the Philippine government, the senator said.

The local government of Kalayaan, in its official website, acknowledges Cloma as the one who discovered uninhabited islands in the Spratlys, which is where the Kalayaan islands are located, in 1947. Cloma, along with his brother and about 40 men, were likewise acknowledged by the Kalayaan website as the ones who occupied the islands.

Lacson's statement comes after Senator Rodante Marcoleta told a hearing of the Commission on Appointments (CA) on Wednesday that the Philippines can "give up" the KIG since it was beyond the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

Amid uproar from the islands' residents and experts' questions about the basis of his comment, Marcoleta said some people were "abbreviating the context" of his remarks.

"Giving up" the Kalayaan Island Group (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…

— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) February 7, 2026

The Senate President Pro Tempore likewise cited the "res nullius" principle supporting the Philippines' ownership of the KIG during last Wednesday's CA hearing.

"'Yan ang hindi ko mapalampas (I will not let that pass)," Lacson said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview last Thursday.

Lacson added that Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan, inhabited by around 300 Filipino families.

"When I heard Senator Marcoleta say that we should give up KIG, I had to clear the issue and assert why KIG is ours. Senator Marcoleta claimed the KIG is outside the EEZ, and I cannot accept that because there were Filipinos living on Pagasa Island," he said in Filipino.

In a separate statement, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela reminded Marcoleta of the oath he took upon taking office. 

Tarriela said that the residents of the Kalayaan Island Group are Filipinos, and that every member of the uniformed forces “stands ready to lay down our lives and fight to the last drop of blood”.

“They are Filipinos, and the island they live on is part of the Philippines. We will never surrender the Kalayaan Island Group. If you are unwilling to defend it and are prepared to give it up—especially if you hold public office—you should remember the oath you swore when you assumed your position,” he said.

During the CA hearing, Marcoleta said the Philippines should give up the KIG in Palawan as its features are "way beyond our exclusive economic zone (EEZ)."

"Mayroon tayong mga isla na occupied natin ngayon, ang KIG. May apat na features sa KIG—Pag-asa, Parola, Kota, at Lankiam. Incidentally, itong apat na features ay way, way beyond our EEZ. Wala sila sa sakop ng EEZ," Marcoleta said.

(Some of the islands in the KIG are occupied by the Philippines. The KIG has four features—Pag-asa, Parola, Kota, and Lankiam. Incidentally, these features are way, way beyond our EEZ.)

"Ang gawin natin para madali, i-give up natin ang KIG then maco-coordinate na natin lahat," he said.

(The easiest way is for us to give up the KIG so we can coordinate the entire stretch of the West Philippine Sea.)

On Friday, Marcoleta clarified that he never said the KIG should be given away. 

“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, 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.

“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.

For its part, Malacañang has said the Philippines will continue to assert its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) despite Marcoleta's remarks.

Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro on Friday said the Marcos administration will continue to uphold its policy to never give up any part of its territory to foreign powers.

Retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio has called out Marcoleta for "following the Chinese position."

UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Laws of the Sea director Jay Batongbacal, meanwhile, has said the Philippines' sovereignty over the KIG has already been established, so there was no reason to give it away to another country. — with Jiselle Anne Casucian/VDV/VBL, GMA Integrated News