Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Senators engaged in rigorous deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, weighing constitutional precedents and procedural safeguards during Wednesday’s plenary session, August 6, 2025.

 Joseph B. Vidal/OSP

Article (news)

SENATE- IMPEACHMENT VOTE- SC DECISION

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177373084861420260317060344_24e92978b31072488800ee7bc331c1c33643faf3150a69f9b6cc07a49cd7e4be_cropped_processed_by_imagy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Senators engaged in rigorous deliberation on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, weighing constitutional precedents and procedural safeguards during Wednesday’s plenary session, August 6, 2025. Joseph B. Vidal/OSP</span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The wife of a descendant of Filipino adventurer and fishing magnate Tomas Cloma was asked in a meeting of a Commission on Appointments panel if Cloma was indeed the one who discovered the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).</p><p>The KIG is part of the municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan.</p><p>During Tuesday’s meeting of the CA Committee on National Defense, which considered the ad interim appointments and nominations of 57 generals/flag officer and senior officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Colonel Jacquelyn Cloma said her husband is a great-grandson of Cloma.</p><p>Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson sent his regards to Cloma’s family.</p><p>“Please extend my regards and I would like to thank him for discovering and occupying and owning and donating to the Philippine government the Kalayaan Island Group,” Lacson said.  </p><p>Senator Rodante Marcoleta, however, questioned this.</p><p>“Senator Lacson made reference to his being the one who discovered the what, Kalayaan Island Group? Was that supported by reliable accounts, Colonel?” Marcoleta asked Colonel Cloma.</p><p>“I have seen and read some references about this, Sir,” Cloma said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;IT IS NOT CORRECT&#x27;<br/></strong></div><p>Marcoleta insisted, though, that other countries such as China, the United States, Japan, Australia, and even the Philippines objected when Tomas Cloma made a Freedom Declaration in 1956.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/24/marcoleta-spratlys-not-discovered-by-tomas-cloma-1508">Marcoleta: Spratlys not discovered by Tomas Cloma</a></div><p>“According to the objectors, Kalayaan Island Group at that time is no longer treated as terra nullius, which means that it is not unoccupied and it was not undiscovered. Kaya po, Colonel, pati ang ating bansa vigorously objected. And that is why It is not correct to assume he discovered it because [there were] several other discoverers prior to his time,” Marcoleta explained.</p><p>He added that Japan made a notice of claim in 1933, prior to Cloma’s declaration in 1956.</p><p>“So hindi po siya puwedeng mag-donate dahil inobjectan po ng ating bansa mismo,” Marcoleta remarked.</p><p>“And it is not correct that earlier it was reflected in the minutes of this Commission that President Ferdinand Marcos Sr formalized it in Presidential Decree 1596. There is no record attesting to that. And there is no record also, Mr. Chair, that his donation was formalized by the arbitral ruling,” he added.</p><p>Lacson then asked Colonel Cloma the difference between discovery and occupation.</p><p>“Once you discover something, Sir, you just learn about it and then you can just pass by,” Cloma replied. “Occupy is a different thing, Sir, because you will spend a lot of time, a certain period of time in that certain area.”</p><p>According to Lacson, “You may discover an island but if you don’t occupy it, then you don’t occupy it.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>ARBITRAL AWARD</strong></div><p>Senate Deputy Majority Leader Risa Hontiveros, meanwhile, referred to the 2016 Arbitral Ruling.</p><p>“The 2016 Arbitral Ruling, Philippines vs China, concluded that China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis for claiming historic rights to resources within Philippine waters including areas of the Kalayaan Island Group. The tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines, clarifying that China’s claims violate UNCLOS,” Hontiveros stated.</p><p>Marcoleta agreed that the Arbitral Ruling invalidated China’s nine-dash line, but disagreed on another point.</p><p>“The second premise of Senator Hontiveros is inaccurate because the Arbitral Tribunal did not rule on the Kalayaan Island Group because the Philippine government, in its Philippine Memorial, did not ask the Tribunal to make judgment on that because the Kalayaan Island Group is a territory and the Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction to pass upon on that,” Marcoleta said.</p><p>Before the meeting adjourned, the CA panel recommended to the plenary the confirmation of the ad interim appointments and nominations of the 57 AFP officers.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/8/what-is-the-kalayaan-group-of-islands-and-why-is-it-important-to-ph-2056">What is the Kalayaan Group of Islands and why is it important to PH?</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FXhc0wBhMwU?si=aEM-YczzCUexRbo6" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>

<p>The wife of a descendant of Filipino adventurer and fishing magnate Tomas Cloma was asked in a meeting of a Commission on Appointments panel if Cloma was indeed the one who discovered the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).</p>

The wife of a descendant of Filipino adventurer and fishing magnate Tomas Cloma was asked in a meeting of a Commission on Appointments panel if Cloma was indeed the one who discovered the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG).

Marcoleta tells Tomas Cloma relative: Incorrect to say Cloma discovered Kalayaan Island Group

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Marcoleta tells Tomas Cloma relative: Incorrect to say Cloma discovered Kalayaan Island Group

Victoria Tulad,

ABS-CBN News

Published Mar 17, 2026 03:08 PM PHT

|

Updated Mar 17, 2026 04:55 PM PHT

Read More:

tomas cloma

kig

kalayaan island group

ping lacson

rodante marcoleta

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