Rehab efforts ongoing at Pag-asa, Kalayaan amid coral destruction

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June 21, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Rehabilitation efforts at Pag-asa Island and Kalayaan Group of Islands (KIG) in Palawan are ongoing amid the destruction of coral reefs in the area, an official of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said yesterday.

In an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel, PCG Deputy Chief of Coast Guard Staff for marine environmental protection Commodore May Marfil said the impact of the coral degradation at KIG is serious.

“It is important for the restoration to assess the area. Once the assessment is done, the coral transplantation will be the next step,” Marfil said.

She said the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute helped in the assessment of the extent of damage to the coral reefs.

“At present, the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and the Western Philippine University are assisting us,” she added.

Marfil noted that aside from the strong waves, the presence of Chinese vessels hampers the rehabilitation efforts.

“But we just continue our work at Philippine Coast Guard,” she said.

According to Marfil, President Marcos wants concerned government agencies to accelerate marine conservation initiatives.

“In response to that directive, the leadership of Philippine Coast Guard ordered a team, which is through our Philippine Coast Guard Marine Science Group, to start the restoration of coral reefs at KIG,” Marfil said.

Marfil admitted that it will take time to observe visible signs of coral recovery.

“It will take time, months, years before the observation of the growth of the corals but we will be there. We’ll be conducting monitoring quarterly to monitor the fragments through documentation, underwater videos,” she said.

Joint training

Filipino and Australian army soldiers are currently engaged in their first-ever joint training exercise where both forces seek to bolster each other’s warfighting capabilities.

Army spokesman Col. Louie Dema-ala said the Philippine Army and the Australian Army are conducting field training drills as part of Kasangga 2025-1 that will continue until June 24 at Camp Kibaritan in Bukidnon.

He said the exercises include jungle and urban operations, breaching operations, tactical combat casualty care, jungle survival training, as well as mobility, counter-mobility and reconnaissance operations.

Dema-ala said the Philippine Army-Australian Army Exercise Kasangga 2025-1 has brought together three platoons from the Philippine Army’s 4th and 10th Infantry Divisions and the Combat Engineer Regiment and their training counterparts from the Australian Army.

He explained that Kasangga, which means “ally” or “partner” in Filipino, involves real-world training scenarios that will challenge the participating troops’ skills and expertise while enhancing their knowledge of each other’s tactics, techniques and procedures.

“This inaugural army-to-army exercise in Mindanao marks a significant advancement in our bilateral defense cooperation and reaffirms our shared commitment as strategic partners to ensuring regional security in the Indo-Pacific,” Army chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said. — Michael Punongbayan