Lawmaker wants disputed islands turned into tourist spots

Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Why not turn disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea into a tourist destination?

An administration congressman made that bold suggestion on Tuesday in response to reports that China was planning to do the same in the Spratly islands, parts of which are being claimed by five other countries, including the Philippines.

Cagayan de Oro Representative Rufus Rodriguez made the proposal during plenary deliberations on the Department of Tourism’s 2013 budget. But Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez did not sound very optimistic.

“This is not just a tourism issue. This is a national security issue so we would leave that to the people who understand the implications of whatever kind of move (would be made),” Jimenez told reporters.

“Even if you just want to swim there, you would have to seek permission from concerned authorities because the area is sensitive,” he added in Filipino.

In a letter to President Aquino, Rodriguez asked the administration to “speed up plans to develop the Spratly group of islands into a tourist destination showcasing its pristine beaches, coral reefs and potential diving spots.”

“May I also suggest the fast-tracking of the plans to build a 100-meter concrete wharf and beaching ramp on the coral-fringed Pag-asa island, the second largest (island) in the Spratlys and the biggest occupied by the Philippines in the contested region,” the congressman wrote.

Apart from the Spratlys, other islands in the area should also be developed into tourist spots and the Panatag Shoal part of a cruise route in the West Philippine Sea, he said.

Rodriguez described his proposals as “nonmilitary developments and therefore, nonconfrontational acts.”

“We should act now, otherwise, it may be too late to defend our sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and the Panatag Shoal,” he said.

Rodriguez’s proposal came as a city in southern China plans to extend a tourism route to the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippines Sea.

Chinese state media have reported that Sanya City, a famed tourist destination in the Southern Chinese province of Hainan, is planning to include the island chains of Zhongsha and Nansha (the Spratlys) on a cruise route under a 10-year tourism development plan.

The report by the state news agency Xinhua published in the national English-language  newspaper China Daily said the planned route extends the luxury cruise lane now being tested to the Xisha Islands, one of the major island groups in the West Philippine Sea, the name the Philippine government uses for the South China Sea.

Quoting local officials, Xinhua said the 2012-2022 Sanya City tourism plan “has passed the expert panel’s evaluation and is waiting to be endorsed by the provincial authorities” in Hainan. Reports from Christian V. Esguerra, PDI and Karen Boncocan, INQUIRER.net

Originally posted: 4:20 pm | Tuesday, September 11th, 2012