MANILA – Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson warned that any suggestion to give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) would be no different from surrendering Luzon or even the entire country.

Lacson stressed that international law recognizes first discovery and possession of land that “belongs to no one” as a valid basis for sovereign ownership, citing the legal principles of res nullius and terra nullius.

“‘Giving up’ the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) is no different from giving up Luzon Island or the entire country. Under international law, first discovery and possession of land that belongs to no one under the legal principle of ‘res nullius’ or ‘terra nullius’ is a recognized mode of sovereign ownership. Even non-lawyers were taught this in school,” Lacson said in a post on X.

He noted that lawyer and adventurer Tomas Cloma discovered and occupied the Spratly Islands under the principle of res nullius, adding that Cloma later turned over ownership of the land to the Philippine government.

Lacson reiterated this long-standing legal basis for Philippine ownership of the KIG during a Commission on Appointments committee hearing last Wednesday.

His remarks came after Sen. Rodante Marcoleta suggested “giving up” the Kalayaan Island Group on the grounds that its features are “way beyond” the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

“Yan ang hindi ko mapalampas,” Lacson said in an interview on DZBB last Thursday.

Lacson, who visited the KIG in 2021, pointed out that Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan and is home to around 300 Filipino families.

“When I heard Sen. Marcoleta say that we should give up KIG, I had to clear the issue and assert why KIG is ours. Sen. Marcoleta claimed the KIG is outside the EEZ, and I cannot accept that because there were Filipinos living on Pagasa Island,” he said in Filipino.