{"id":165115,"date":"2018-05-27T03:17:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-27T07:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=165115"},"modified":"2018-05-27T03:17:41","modified_gmt":"2018-05-27T07:17:41","slug":"repair-of-pag-asa-runway-consistent-with-natl-sovereignty-roque","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/27\/repair-of-pag-asa-runway-consistent-with-natl-sovereignty-roque\/","title":{"rendered":"Repair of Pag-asa runway \u2018consistent with nat\u2019l sovereignty\u2019: Roque"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Roque made this remark after think tank AMTI announced on its website that the Philippine started long-delayed repairs to its crumbling runway at Pag-asa Island (PCOO photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Saturday welcomed the start of repairs of the runway on Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).<\/p>\n

\u201cRepair of port facilities in Pag-asa is consistent with our national sovereignty and jurisdiction,\u201d Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement sent to media.<\/p>\n

Roque made this remark after think tank Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) announced on its website that the Philippines started long-delayed repairs to its crumbling runway at Pag-asa Island.<\/p>\n

According to the AMTI, \u201cSatellite imagery from May 17 shows two barges anchored just off the western edge of the Thitu (Pag-asa) Island runway, which collapsed into the sea years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears that a grab dredger, consisting of a crane with a clamshell bucket, is installed on the smaller barge to the west, while the other carries a backhoe. Loose sediment from dredging can be seen in the water around the two barges and freshly-deposited sand is visible along the northern edge of the runway,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

The AMTI noted that this method of dredging is similar to that used by Vietnam at many of its outposts in recent years, noting that it affects surrounding reefs at a smaller scale .<\/p>\n

According to the AMTI, Philippine defense officials in April 2017 announced that they would be upgrading facilities at the country\u2019s occupied islands and reefs, but little work was apparent until now.<\/p>\n

Roque earlier said that Duterte is expected to visit Pag-asa Island within his term to show the country\u2019s claim over the Kalayaan Group of Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think, time will really come that the President will visit the Pag-asa Island,\u201d Roque said in an earlier video interview.<\/p>\n

Roque said a visit of the President to the Pag-asa Island would serve as a statement of sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the President will not do it now, I think, before his term will be finished, he will go there, not only to show to the world our entitlement in Kalayaan but to visit our soldiers and our countrymen living there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pag-asa Island is part of the Kalayaan Group of Islands, which is also being claimed by China.<\/p>\n

In July 2016, the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruled in favor of the Philippines\u2019 arbitration case saying that China\u2019s nine-dash line map has no legal basis.<\/p>\n

Duterte temporarily shelved the PCA\u2019s decision to give way to friendly and peaceful dialogues with China.<\/p>\n

He, however, vowed not give up any of the county’s territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea amid China\u2019s alleged militarization of the disputed area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Malaca\u00f1ang on Saturday welcomed the start of repairs of the runway on Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":160910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[15359,42417,978,18232,11440,2444,3370],"class_list":["post-165115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-harry-roque","tag-kalayaan-group-of-islands","tag-malacanang","tag-pag-asa-island","tag-permanent-court-of-arbitration","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-west-philippine-sea","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}