The Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday issued a strong statement dismissing the claim of Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua that the Philippines’ planned improvement works at Pag-asa Island would be illegal. “Pag-asa Island and the larger Kalayaan Island Group are a municipality of Palawan,” DFA spokesman Robespierre Bolivar told reporters. Pag-asa Island is the largest of the islands under the municipality of Kalayaan, which was created in 1978.

Pilapil, J. (2017, May 3). ‘Pag-asa Island is ours’. The Manila Times, pp A1, A2.