A heated exchange erupted at the Senate on Tuesday after Senator Loren Legarda advised Senator Rodante Marcoleta to pursue postgraduate studies in national security amid a debate over the history of the Spratly Islands and the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).
The tension unfolded during a hearing of the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation, where Marcoleta disputed a previous statement by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson that Filipino adventurer Tomas Cloma discovered the Spratly Islands.
“It’s never too late to take masters in national security maski batikan na abugado na kayo,” Legarda told Marcoleta after he questioned Cloma’s role in the discovery of the KIG.
Marcoleta replied, “Provided they exclude the Tomas Cloma issue.”
“Totoo naman iyun ah. That is the historical fact,” Legarda responded, stressing that lawmakers’ statements on the West Philippine Sea must be grounded in accurate history.
Marcoleta maintained that Lacson “erroneously cited” Cloma as the discoverer and owner of the Spratlys during the February 4 Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing on the ad interim appointments of 35 senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
“Pag-aari po natin yung occupied territories natin not because they were discovered or donated by Tomas Cloma. Pag-aari natin simply because nandun ang mga tao natin and we have effective control under public international law,” Marcoleta said. “Kung sino ang mayroong effective control, siya yung may-ari. That’s the status now.”
He added that portraying Cloma as the discoverer who donated the islands to the Philippines and whose claim was formalized by President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. under a presidential decree was “historical distortion.”
“Tomas Cloma is a seafarer, he is not a discoverer,” Marcoleta said.
Brig. Gen. Alexander Gigantone, Deputy Commander of the AFP Education and Training Command, said he was not aware if the matter was included in their course modules and would have to verify it.
“I have to find out, your honor,” Gigantone said when asked if Lacson’s statements were distortions.
Lacson, for his part, stood by his earlier remarks and said he would let “the facts do the talking.”
Citing information from the official website of the Municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan, Lacson said Cloma issued a “Notice to the Whole World” on May 15, 1956 asserting ownership over 33 features in the Spratlys and later established a government for the “Free Territory of Freedomland.”
“In 1974, he ‘sold’ his rights to the Philippine government for ₱1.00. This paved the way for President Ferdinand E. Marcos to officially establish the Municipality of Kalayaan under Presidential Decree No. 1596 in 1978,” Lacson said.
He added that although Cloma’s actions were opposed by Taiwan and China, his claims served as part of the basis for the Philippines’ subsequent claim over the Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea.
“Merong hindi pa rin maka-move on kay Tomas Cloma. So, eto ang historical facts para matahimik na rin sa himlayan niya si Tomas Cloma,” Lacson said.
In the same hearing, Marcoleta clarified that he was not proposing to remove the KIG from Philippine territory.
“Ako kailanman hindi ko sinabi I’m trying to remove the KIG from the territory of this country. Not even a suggestion,” he said.
He explained that his earlier remark during the February 4 CA meeting — suggesting hypothetically that giving up the KIG would make plotting the West Philippine Sea easier — was made in jest.
“Nagbiro lang ako, it was a hypothetical statement… it was not even a suggestion,” Marcoleta said. “Di ba sinasabi natin we cannot give up an inch of our territory.”
