Pag-asa port in Palawan to be turned over to DOTr on June 12, says Tugade

May 29, 2020

The Palawan Provincial Government is set to turnover on June 12, the Philippine Independence Day, to the national government the recently constructed port in Pag-asa in the Kalayaan Island Group, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade said.

In a televised meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday night, Tugade said his office reported during a recent meeting of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases that construction of 10 ports in the country has been completed and one of them is the port in Pag-asa.

He said there would be no more inauguration ceremonies of those ports amid the coronavirus disease pandemic.

"Included there in the completion is the Pag-asa port. The Provincial Government of Palawan is ready to turn that over to us on June 12," he said.

"I said if I can just accept its (port's) paper. Let us not hold any inauguration," Tugade added.

He said all the newly-constructed ports would be operational soon.

In the 2017 budget, the government had earmarked P450 million in capital outlay to the DOTr for the Barangay Pag-asa Port Project.

China has been claiming almost the entire South China Sea, including KIG. Kalayaan is a municipality of Palawan.

The government has also reinforced its airstrip in Pag-asa. Celerina Monte/DMS