THE FOLLOWING ISLANDS BELONG TO THE PHILIPPINES

Features

• Pagasa Island(Thitu Island)
• Likas Island(West York Island)
• Parola Island(Northeast Cay)
• Lawak Island (Nanshan Island)
• Kota Island (Loaita Island)
• Patag Island (Flat Island)
• Panata Island(Lankiam Cay)
• Rizal Reef(Commodore Reef)
• Balagtas Reef (Irving Reef)
• Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas Reef)

 

Pagasa Island is where you can fine the town of Kalayaan. Kalayaan is the one of the municipalities in the Philippines to have a single barangay which is Pagasa. All municipalities and cities in the Philippines are further divided into smaller political subdivisions called barangays. Because only Pagasa Island among all Philippine-occupied Spratly islands is currently inhabited by civilian Filipinos, other islands cannot have a barangay status. The civilian population, about 300 which includes children, was introduced in 2001 to strengthen Kalayaan's status as a municipality. However, less than 200 civilian Filipinos are present in the island at a time. Others have works to attend to in Palawan mainland.

Pagasa is the only Philippine-occupied island to have a significant number of structures. . These include a municipal hall, multi-purpose hall, health center, school, water-filtration plant, marina, and military barracks. It also has its own communications tower owned by SMART Telecommunications, a Philippine company. Pagasa residents raise pigs, goats and chickens and plant crops in an alloted space to supplement their supplies of goods provided by a naval vessel which visits once a month. By day, the residents get electricity from a power generator owned by the municipality. By night, they shift to stored solar power which comes from 1.5V solar panels installed in the island. The municipal government of Kalayaan is making new projects to promote tourism for the island. Also, they had been successful in convincing many Filipino businessmen to invest in Kalayaan.