CHAPTER 4

Palawan and BIMP-EAGA

The lonely province

Palawan is a unique province. It is the western most province of the county and is the

biggest. The Philippine archipelago of 7,107 islands, 1,700 of which are in Palawan, lies in a

triangular area of the West Pacific Ocean where three great tectonic plates of the Earth's crust

meet. These are the Eurasian Plate, the Pacific plate and the Indo Australian Plate. The

Philippine archipelago is divided into two major structural units: a stable region and a mobile

belt. The southwestern part of the archipelago which embrace mainly Palawan and the Sulu

Sea is the stable region. The rest of the archipelago is the mobile belt.

Thus, geologically, Palawan is distinct from the rest of the Philippines. Palawan, being a

part of the Sunda Shelf, together with the island of Borneo, is of continental origin while the

rest of the Philippines is of volcanic origin. The flora and fauna of the province is of Bornean

origin and is distinct from that of the other islands of the Philippines.

The province of Palawan is one of the 15 Biogeographic Zones of the Philippines

identified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the United

Nation Environmental Program (UNEP) with unique flora and fauna (DENR-UNEP, 1997).

Palawan together with the Calamian Islands, Balabac, and neighboring smaller islands,

collectively comprise the Palawan Faunal Region. The region constitutes the easternmost

extremity of Sunda Shelf and is separated from the rest of the Philippines by deep-water

channels i.e. the Wallace line. This is the reason why Palawan has a lot of endemic species of

both flora and fauna.

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 Considered as one of the last frontiers of the tropical rainforest not only in the

Southeast Asia but also in the world, Palawan has faunal composition both in the mainland

and its surrounding islands which are either rare, unique or endangered, most of which are

not found in other areas in the Philippines nor anywhere else in the world. In fact, Palawan

faunae had contributed much to the list of mammalian fauna of the Philippines which

otherwise would have been a short one (Diokno, 1983). Palawan has a distinct and much

richer fauna than those of the other islands put together.

It is theorized that such faunistic composition in Palawan is attributed to the migration

of terrestrial mammals from the Indo-Malaysian Peninsula and Asia Mainland via the land-

link between Borneo and Palawan. This phenomenon explains why many of the animals in

Palawan like the pangolin, the mouse deer, the porcupine, the stink badger and the small-

clawed otter are likewise found in the Himalayas, Indonesia and Malaysia, the latter two

being situated in the Sunda Shelf. (Wallace, 1880) It is, moreover, believed that in spite of the

wide variety of wildlife species that reached Palawan, very few are able to progress further to

the other islands.

Alfred Russel Wallace, the great Victorian biologist and friendly rival of Charles

Darwin, travelled the islands of South East Asia during the 1850's and observed that the

many islands could be divided into those that had typically Asian wildlife and those that had

typically Australasian life; so he separated them on the map with a line - known to this day as

The Wallace Line. The island of Palawan is on the Asian side of the line, along with the rest

of the 7,200 or so Philippine islands.

Palawan was the eastern edge of the Sunda Shelf, an ice age continent that existed as an

extension of the Asian continent when sea levels fell dramatically during the coldest part of

the ice age, 18 - 10 thousand years or so ago. As the ice retreated sea levels rose again, and

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biologists call this now submerged continent Sunderland - lying today under the shallow

South China Sea.

The Philippine islands have moved north along with China, Tibet and the many islands

of Indonesia, due to continental drift - including Australia which separated from the continent

of Antarctica about 50 million years ago. All of these were once part of the great ancient

continent of Gondwana. Palawan broke away from the Asian plate and drifted south, isolated

for some 40 million years, and reaching its present position about 5 million years ago. When

sea levels fell during the ice ages it was connected to Asia again via Borneo, separating once

more when sea levels rose as the ice melted.

In 1868 Thomas Henry Huxley modified Wallace's line, separating Palawan island from

the rest of the Philippines by turning it north at the Makasser Strait. These studies clearly

shows that Palawan and the rest of the Philippine islands have different origins.

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 Earliest account of Palawan

The earliest written historical account of Palawan came from the archives of the

Emperor of China mentioning the kingdoms trade relationship. Between the periods, 220 -

263 AD, Tsung-Tse-Yang-Kau, author of the book, "Chang Shik", mentioned 43 places in the

Philippines. Among these were Camarines, Laoag, Corregidor, Luzon, Cavite, Iling, Antik,

Cuyo, Dapitan, Balayan and Palawan

In the early 9th Century, Chinese who traded with the natives of the coastal regions of

Calamianes knew the province as "Palao-yu," meaning "Land of beautiful safe harbors."As

early as the 9th Century, trade and cultural contact existed between the Philippines and her

Southeast Asian neighbors, as well as China, Japan India and the Arabian nations.

In between the periods 1209 & 1214 & 1349 , the names "Kaimayen," "Palao-yu,"

and "Pakinung, meaning Calamian, Palawan and Busuanga, respectively, were mentioned

in Chinese narratives as part of the dependencies of the Mai. Chao-Ju-Kua, in his book,

"Chua Fan Chi" described the island of Palawan. He mentioned the following:

The country of Mai is to the north of Borneo. The natives live in large
villages on the opposite BANKS of a stream and cover themselves with a cloth
like a sheet or hide their bodies with a loin cloth.

"The San-hen [or "Three Islands") belong to Ma-i; their names are Kia-ma-
yen [Kalamian, or Culion], Pa-lau-yu [Palawan] and Pa-ki-nung [Busuanga],
and each has its own tribes scattered over the islands.

Historical record exists to establish that the province was part of the Sultanate of

Brunei until it was transferred to the Sultanate of Sulu. The royal genealogy of Brunei's

sultans dates back nearly 600 years when in 1365, Awang Alak Betatar embraced Islam,

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married a Johore princess, and assumed the title Sultan Muhammad, according to early

chronicles.

A Persian missionary and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, Sharif Ali, as

Brunei's third sultan, further spread Islam, built mosques, and the first defense barriers at

Kota Batu and across the Brunei River. The sultanate's golden age dawned with the reign of

the fifth sultan, Nakhoda Ragam or the singing captain, Sultan Bolkiah, who was famous for

many conquests.

His voyages took him to Java, Malacca and the Philippines, where he seized Seludong

(Manila). His rule extended over the Sultanates of Sambas, Pontianak, Banjarmasin, Pasi

Kotei, Balongan, the Sulu Archipelago, and Islands of Balabac, Banggi, Balambangan and

Palawan

In 1658, the Sultan of Brunei ceded the northern and eastern portion of Borneo and

the island of Pulauan (Palawan) to the Sultan of Sulu in compensation for the latter's help in

settling the Brunei Civil War in the Brunei Sultanate. In 1749, the Sultanate of Brunei ceded

southern Palawan to Spain.

In September 1762, the island of Balambangan was ceded to the British (Majul 1973,

254). In the following month the British seized Manila from the Spaniards, and subsequently

entered into negotiations with the former Sultan Alimudin to the effect that they would

return him to Jolo in return for his co-operation.

The following year in June, Sultan Alimudin was welcomed back and reinstated as

Sultan (Majul 1973, 258). Confronted with debts owing to the East India Company, the

Sultan then ceded to that company his North Borneo territories from Kimanis to Towson

Abai, although one of the Sultan's sons was to be governor of the province, and rather than

being a cession in the Western legal sense, the cession was probably only meant as the

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granting, of a trade monopoly (Majul 1973, 259). The whole of Palawan was allegedly

included in this 'cession' (ibid.). The treaty of 9th September 1763 between Alimudin and the

British only included the Southern part of Palawan, North Borneo and the intermediate

islands to the East India Company (H102:37). On September 28th, a further, and slightly

more elaborate commerce and friendship treaty was signed (H 102) It seems that the East

India Company was still owed a substantial sum by Sulu. One further treaty between the

British and Alimudin followed in 1769 when the Sultan confirmed his sale of Palawan and

North Borneo to the British (H 102).

SPANISH PERIOD

Ferdinand Magellan landed at Homonhon, Samar, on March 16, 1521 and was killed

on April 27, 1521 in a battle with Kaliph Pulaka (Lapu-Lapu) in Mactan. After Magellan's

death, remnants of his fleet landed in Palawan where the bounty of the land saved them from

starvation. Pigafetta, Magellan's chronicler named the place "Land of Promise. The

Spaniards saw the people's cultivated fields and their weapons consisting of blowpipes,

spears and bronze. They witnessed for the first time cock fighting and fist fighting. Pigafetta

likewise discovered that the pre-Spanish Palaweos had their own system of writing

consisting of 13 consonants and 3 vowels. They had a dialect of 18 syllables. This writing

system later on called Baybayin was shared by the indigenous groups of Palawan and

Mindoro. He further wrote that in Palawan, the local king had 10 scribes who wrote down

the King's dictations on leaves and bamboo.

Pigafetta further called the island "Pulian", a name closely similar to "Pulaon",

according to Dr. Jose Rizal. Both terms originated from the Malay word Pulauan or a place

of many islands, pulau meaning an island.

Before the entry of the Spaniards and continuing through almost the entire period of

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their occupation, the territories of the province were persistently under the influence of the

Sultanate of Brunei and later on, the Sultanate of Sulu. Indeed, Manila or Lusong

(Luzon)was a Muslim kingdom when the Spaniards came and were subdued and conquered

after fierce battles. The resistance was led by Rajah Suleiman, the Rajah Muda (Crown

Prince) of the Sultanate of Brunei. Pigafetta and other chroniclers mentioned Muslim

settlements along the coasts of Palawan island, tribute collection and proselytization in Cuyo

and the Calamianes and trading activities with Borneo and other southern locales. A glimpse

of Tagbanua, Palawan and Molbog society and culture reveals Muslim dominance and

influence in material culture and social organization, apparently a consequence of trading

activities in south and central Palawan that persisted until the second half of the nineteenth

century.

From the year 1565, the Spaniards began their earnest colonization of the Philippine

archipelago, starting from Cebu and then from Manila. By the 1570s, they were collecting

tribute in the Calamianes and the Cuyo islands

PALAWAN RESISTANCE TO SPANISH RULE

Palawan was the scene of a protracted resistance against the colonization of the

Spaniards. Contrary to biased historical accounts from Spanish writers and later on Spanish

influenced Filipino writers, the indigenous people of the province who were part of the

Sultanate, continuously rose in arms and harassed the outposts that the Spaniards were trying

to establish in the province.

In the year 1574, or fifty-three years after Magellan's "discovery" of our country,

there was a plot to drive the Spaniards away, but its uncovering led to the execution of its

leaders including those from Calamianes who were very much involved in the plot.

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 Another attempt in 1587 brought together in alliance the chiefs of Tondo, Pandacan,

Polo, Catangalan, Castilla, Taguig, Candaba, Navotas, Maysilo, Bangos and Cuyo. The

leaders were Magat Salamat, son of Lakandula, and Agustin de Legazpi, Lakandulas

nephew. The chiefs solicited help from the Bornean rulers to whom they were related as well

from a Japanese captain who was supposed to bring arms and soldiers to help them drive the

Spaniards away. If successful, the chiefs would give one-half of the tribute customarily

collected by the Spaniards to their Japanese allies. The plan remained a secret from the

Spaniards for fifteen months, but before it could be put into operation, it was betrayed by

another chief. Most of the chiefs involved were sentenced to death or exile and their property

confiscated.

The south of Palawan was under the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Sulu. Harum ar-

Rashid (Alon Narrasib, Jaron, Surutan Alun), Sultan of Sulu from 1886 to 1894, even resided

in BonBon, South Palawan. He had to settle in the province after losing his bid to become the

paramount Sultan of Sulu to Jamalul Kiram II. The Muslims continued to have control of the

gathering of slaves and forest products for domestic and trade purposes, instilling fear and

submission.

The Muslims eventually yielded to a vigorous southern campaign of the Spaniards in

the latter part of the century. The pueblos moros became vulnerable to attack and occupation

by a strengthened Spanish naval force. The occupation, albeit token and threatening at best,

was formalized with the signing by the representatives of Sultan Harum of a document

recognizing the power of the King of Spain in Puerto Princesa on 19 November 1886.

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 Incorporation into the Republic of the Philippines

With their defeat at the brief Spanish-American war, the Spaniards surrendered

possession of the Philippines to the United States with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The

Americans likewise, after their victory in the war against the Philippine revolutionaries, led

by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, started the colonization of the country .(Agoncillo, 1975)

After the Filipino-American War, the Americans established the Civil Government of

Paragua with Major John Brown as the First Appointed Governor. Paragua then included

practically the same territory as the former province of 'Castilla"or Calamianes, the Cuyo and

Calamianes Island groups and Dumaran Island. Cuyo was the capital. ("Philippine

Commission Act 422, enacted June 23, 1902"). (Ocampo, 1985)

The province was organized under the administration of the Americans on 23 June 1902

by Act 422 of the Philippine Commission. The organization was little hampered, and the

occupiers were heartened by their enthusiastic welcome in Cuyo. Act 747 extended the

province to include southern Palawan and the Cagayan islands. Act 1363, in 1905, again

renamed the province Palawan instead of Paragua

The American occupation of the province met with no resistance from the forces of the

Sultanate of Sulu who had earlier surrendered Palawan to the Spaniards in 1886. (Ocampo,

1985)The sultanate itself was being besieged by the American forces in Mindanao who have

now turned their focus on the pacification of the area after the surrender of the Filipino

revolutionaries with the capture of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo. The United States granted

independence to the Philippines in 1946, after a brief occupation of the country and the

province by Japanese forces, hence Palawan became part of the Republic of the Philippines

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 Backwardness

Manila was the center of governance of the Philippines from the Spanish era, the

American and the independent Philippine governments. The central government, based in

Manila was where all the revenues of the nation is centralized and then apportioned to all the

provinces and territories of the Philippines. This unitary and centralized form of governance

was installed by the colonial powers in order to consolidate their hold over the country due to

its geographical and ethnic dispersal and remoteness. This system of governance has resulted

in the central government accumulating the wealth of the provinces and causing the uneven

development of the country with Manila being the most developed and prosperous at the

expense of the provinces.

Palawan is one of the most distant provinces from Manila and is in fact closer to North

Borneo than Manila. Due to this geographical remoteness, Palawan has been one of the most

underdeveloped provinces in the Philippines, together with the Southern Mindanao provinces.

The most noteworthy colonial projects in the province were the Culion Leper Colony and the

Iwahig Penal Colony. Unfortunately those two projects even caused a stigma to Palaweos

as it connotes an impression to the outsiders that people from the province may have leprosy

or a convict background.

The establishment of colonial control and eventually Manilas government led to the

delineation of the countrys territory between British Borneo and the Republic of the

Philippines. The result was the imposition of control and limitation over the traditional

trade between Sulu and Palawan on one side and North Borneo on the other side. A

traditional source of income for the indigenous people was suddenly redefined as

smuggling.

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 SINCE INDEPENDENCE IN 1946, successive Philippine governments have

endeavored to develop the primarily agricultural economy by promoting industrialization in

various forms. An initial emphasis on import substitution gave way from the 1970s to export-

oriented industrialization, modeled on the apparently flourishing economies of the Asian

tigers: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. This meant a focus on attracting

foreign investment and technology in light industries and assembly operations. Export

processing zones were established in Bataan (near Manila) and Mactan (near Cebu in the

Visayas) to attract transnationals to set up operations in the Philippines. In time, electronics

and garments replaced coconuts and sugar as the countrys main exports. Mindanao and

Palawan remained essentially a source of raw materials and agricultural products. This

centralized economic model meant the development of certain areas such as Manila and Cebu

as manufacturing and trading centers and the backwardness of Mindanao and Palawan as

resource base areas.

Measurable economic activity (the formal economy) in the Philippines is concentrated in

the northern island of Luzon, and particularly around Metropolitan Manila. The National Capital

Region (NCR)28 alone accounted for 31% of the Philippines gross domestic product (GDP) in

2000, more than either Mindanao or the Visayas. Mindanao contributed about 18% of the

countrys GDP (see Tables 1a and 1c in Appendix), slightly more than the Visayas (16%) but

substantially less than Luzon (66%).

The Human Development Index (HDI) developed by the United Nations Development

Programme seeks to indicate quality of life by aggregating per capita income, functional

literacy rates and life expectancy. It thus takes into account the extent to which education and

health services may alleviate the effects of income poverty. In 2000, the five predominantly

Muslim provinces were the five worst off in the Philippines in terms of HDI

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 Initial inclusion in the BIMP-EAGA

BIMP-EAGA was launched in 1994 at Davao City in response to the clamor for a sub-

regional development zone that covers the least developed areas of the Philippines, Malaysia

and the Philippines. The impetus for the said formation was the recognition that the areas

covered by BIMP-EAGA has been lagging and being left behind in the current drive for

development of their respective countries. The reason for this backwardness was the uneven

development of the three (3) countries due to geographical and political considerations.

Except for Brunei Darussalam, the areas covered by BIMP-EAGA has been suffering from

underdelopment and impoverishment as compared to other parts of their respective countries.

Palawans inclusion in the BIMP-EAGA was met with jubilation in the province. It was

the first time that the province has been included in an international formation or grouping.

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The government, business and civil society was so elated by the development that there was a

flurry of activities to take advantage of such an opportunity. The provincial government of

Palawan led by Gov. Salvador P. Socrates and the city government of Puerto Princesa, led by

Mayor Edward Hagedorn lost no time in organizing and mobilizing for BIMP-EAGA

activities.

The business group set up a province wide organization from its Puerto Princesa based

formation, under the banner of the Palawan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The

business organization was formerly a grouping of Puerto Princesa City based businesses but

with the expectation of a province wide effort to participate in the BIMP-EAGA activities

and opportunities the clamor was for a province wide organization. The chamber was deeply

involved in the activities geared towards the preparation of the business community for the

impending regional formation and in anticipation of resurgent business activities.

On the government side the leadership of the BIMP-EAGA effort was shared by the

Governor, Salvador P. Socrates and the PCSD Executive Director, Arthur Ventura. Ventura,

a close associate of President Fidel V. Ramos was made co-chairman of the council created to

lead the BIMP-EAGA activities, while Socrates being the provincial governor was the

chairman. The Palawan Council for Sustainable Development is a special body created by

Republic Act 7611 and was tasked to oversee the sustainable development of the province

with the mandate to coordinate all the government agencies and private sector in the

development and conservation of the provinces natural resources. Representatives of

national government agencies, local government units, business sectors and non-government

organizations sit in the council.

On the side of the civil society, a Peoples Council for BIMP-EAGA was formed by non-

government organizations with the aim of participating in the BIMP-EAGA activities and

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presenting the NGO agenda. The NGOs in the province have been very successful in

pushing and advocating for the conservation of its natural resources and have been mainly

responsible for the ban on commercial logging and the moratorium on the export of live fish

in the province. They have a good working relationship with the political leadership of both

the provincial and city government.

The government officials of the provincial government, city government and the

PCSD participated in meetings called by the national government on the BIMP-EAGA

activities which were mostly held in Mindanao. The flurry of activities led to both the

provincial and city governments to set up their respective multi-sectoral BIMP-EAGA

councils and appoint coordinators for the said council. Groups of Malaysian businessmen

visited Palawan and established connections with their local counterparts. Some of these

Malaysian businessmen from Kudat, have had previous commercial relationships with some

Palawan businessmen, specifically those based in Southern Palawan. A Sabah based airline,

Layang-Layang Airlines started to ferry passengers between Puerto Princesa and Kota

Kinabalu and arrangements were being made for the launching of the sea connection between

Kudat and Brookes Point.

Initial disappointment

In the midst of the initial euphoria over the new sub-regional grouping that has now

included the province, a major irritant has started to come out. Palawan government officials

and businessmen attending the BIMP-EAGA meetings in Mindanao almost always come out

of the said meetings feeling left out. The feedback from them would be that they felt that

Palawan was not given the importance that it deserves. Palawan would always be mentioned

as a second fiddle to Mindanao and is not being given equal prominence. Almost all the

activities on the Philippine side were held in Mindanao. There were talks that Palawan was

14
just added to formation belatedly upon the insistence of President Ramos and that when it

was first conceptualized it was just Mindanao which would have been part of BIMP-EAGA.

By the year 1997, at the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis, the enthusiasm for BIMP-

EAGA on the side of Palawan waned. The 1997 Asian financial crisis seriously disrupted the

growth momentum in BIMP-EAGA.As the economic environment in Southeast Asia

generally weakened, governments refocused their attention to national issues, especially those

affecting their financial and industrial centers. In many cases, the decline in government

spending on infrastructure effectively slowed down regional development and consequently

slowed down implementation of several BIMP-EAGA initiatives as well. (Dominguez, 2003)

The following year, 1998 Palawan, together with the rest of the regions suffered through

the worst recorded El Nio phenomenon that brought severe drought, forest fires, and the

haze. All these contributed to sharp declines in the largely agriculture-based economies of

many sub regional focal areas. Changes in the political leadership in Indonesia and the

Philippines also slowed down the process to better coordinate and harmonize investment and

trade policies in BIMP-EAGA, particularly the harmonization of customs, immigration, and

quarantine rules, regulations and procedures.

The BIMP-EAGA private sector made up mostly of small and medium enterprises

(SMEs) also refocused their efforts on minimizing the impact of the crisis on their businesses

by downsizing and/or postponing expansion programs. With reduced government support, the

private sectors capacity to spur cooperation activities in the sub region weakened.

Towards the end of the decade, security concerns emerged because of kidnapping and

ethnic violence in some parts of the BIMP-EAGA. The global threat of terrorism

compounded the security problems resulting in declines in tourism, further displacement of

trade and loss of investor confidence. After the term of President Ramos and the

assumption into office of President Estrada, there was a lull in the activities of BIMP-EAGA.

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The conferences in Mindanao and in other places were few and far between. It was also in

this year 1998 when big forest fires in the island of Borneo caused by the El Nino

phenomenon occurred. The smoke and haze reached Palawan.

Hibernation

After the year 1998, not much was heard from the BIMP-EAGA except for the

occasional ministerial meetings and inter-government consultations. It was during this period

that Palawan was designated in the ministerial meeting as a potential source of raw materials

for construction for the sub-region, a designation that was met with reluctance by the

province as it would run counter to the vision Palawan for its conservation of natural

resources and sustainable development.

In the year 2000, after his election as governor, Joel T. Reyes made moves to revive

the BIMP-EAGA activities in the province. He led a team of government officials and

business representatives to Sabah and Labuan and met with government and business leaders

of both states. He later on signed a Letter of Intent with the Chief Minister of the State of

Sabah. After the said effort, BIMP-EAGA activities in the province became sporadic.

PEDCO

Starting the year 2004, efforts were being made to revitalize and reinvigorate the BIMP-

EAGA effort under the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was elected to

the presidency in 2004 after serving the unexpired portion of President Estrada who was

deposed in 2001. The effort was led by the Mindanao Economic Development Authority

(MEDCO), a body created under the term of President Corazon Aquino in 1992 and

organized during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos, who succeeded her in 1992 The
16
new strategy in reviving the BIMP-EAGA was to mobilize the private sector as a partner of

the state. In Palawan, similar efforts were made by the provincial government to involve the

business sector in BIMP-EAGA activities. In 2007, the provincial government passed a

resolution creating the Palawan Economic Development Council or the PEDCO, patterned

after the Mindanao Economic Development Council or MEDCO. It was organized to be the

coordinating council and the umbrella organization of all business councils in the province. It

did not have the official authority and mandate enjoyed by MEDCO, which was a direct

creation of the Office of the President and was operating under its authority.

The formation of PEDCO elicited mixed reactions from the business sector which at that

time was being represented in various government bodies by the Palawan Chamber of

Commerce and Industry. Lacking in authority and without the support of the major business

groups in the province, PEDCO was not able to effectively mobilize the private sector in

Palawan to join the BIMP-EAGA effort.

Revival

At the start of the year 2012, the new leadership of the Palawan State University initiated

efforts to revive the then dormant BIMP-EAGA activities. PSU President Dr. Jeter Sespee ,

who was elected to his position in late 2011, envisioned the revival of BIMP-EAGA

connection as a major thrust of the university as its contribution to the provinces

development. Linkages were made with the Universiti Malaysia-Sabah, the BIMP-EAGA

Facilitation Center and with BEBC Malaysia through successive visits made by university

officials. The above Sabah based institutions were enthusiastic about these new ties specially

with Palawan, since most of their connections with the Philippines were made through

Mindanao based state and non-state players.

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 The chair of the BEBC-Malaysia, Datuk Roselan Mohamad, brought the PSU team to

Kudat, Sabah to see the situation in the said place specially the port where boats from

Palawan are berthed and in the process of unloading their cargoes. It was there that the PSU

team saw that almost all the goods coming from Palawan to Kudat, are made up of logs and

lumbers and during the return voyage, consumer goods from Sabah was being sent to

Palawan.

In January of the following year, a delegation from Kudat, led by their State

Assemblyman, Datuk Teo Chee Kang, visited Palawan. The newly formed BIMP-EAGA

Unit of the Palawan State University made the arrangement and coordinated the trade

delegation that also went to Brookes Point to inspect the port facilities and dialogue with the

business and government sector of Southern Palawan. The state assemblyman, who was

likewise a minister in the Chief Ministers office is the main proponent of the Kudat-

Brookes Point sea linkage and has been lobbying the state government of Sabah to improve

the post facilities of Kudat to conform to international shipping standards.

The Universiti Malaysia-Sabah had established its BIMP-EAGA Unit for Tourism

Development and sponsored an international conference on BIMP-EAGA at Kota Kinabalu

on July 9-12, 2012. In the said occasion, a delegation from PSU attended the conference and

signed a Letter of Intent with the Universiti Malaysia-Sabah. The Universiti Malaysia-Sabah

(UMS) is the biggest state educational institution in Sabah and is subsidized by the federal

government.

The election in 2014 of Gov. Jose Ch. Alvarez, as the governor of Palawan helped in the

revival of the BIMP-EAGA connection. The governor, who used to do business in Indonesia

for almost twenty (20) years was very sympathetic on the effort to establish connections with

BIMP-EAGA countries. It also helped a lot that he was familiar with the business culture in

18
the EAGA region and speaks the Bahasa language fluently. Countless travel exchanges

between Sabah and Palawan commenced after he assumed the governorship and he has made

the BIMP-EAGA effort as a cornerstone of his administration. From the Malaysia side the

following visits to Palawan were made as part of their effort to revitalize Sabah-Palawan

relationship, namely:

1. The opening of the MASWings operation through a visit led by Asst. Tourism
Minister Datuk Kamarlin Ombi and MASWings Managing Director Capt. Mohd
Nawawi Bin Awang on November 22 to 24, 2014 ,
2. The participation of the Malaysian group in the 2nd BIMP-EAGA International
Conference,
3. The visit by the Labuan business group led by Federal MP Datuk Rozman Isli on
February 25 to 28, 2014,
4. The visit of the Kota Kinabalu Environmental Action Committee led by Asst.
Minister Datuk Pang Yuk Ming and Kota Kinabalu City Hall Director General
Datuk Yeo Boon Hai on April 25 to 27, 2014.
5. The visit by a 15 man delegation from Universiti Malaysia Sabah as part of the
student mobility exchange, led by Prof. Rini Sulong of the Faculty of Business
and Economics on May 6 to 9, 2014.

Air connection was revived, with the MAS Wings opening its Kota Kinabalu-Puerto

Princesa regular flight on November 22, 2013 and attracted quite a favorable passenger

volume due to the popularity of Palawan and Puerto Princesas tourist attraction primarily the

Puerto Princesa Undergrounds River National Park and El Nido. Likewise, a lot of Palaweos

flew to Sabah either for business or to visit their relatives and friends who are often long

term residents of the state or have become Malaysian citizens. Unfortunately the said air

connection was suspended effective September 1, 2014 as part of the rehabilitation program

of the Malaysian Airlines following its near collapse due to the double tragedy of its two

airplanes crashing in Ukraine (MH17) and in the Indian Ocean (MH370). Malaysian Airlines

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decided to cut back its recently opened routes as part of its downsizing. It was not due to lack

of passenger volume as its KK to Puerto Princesa flight has been attracting passengers.

Source MASwings

Role of the Academe in the Revival

BIMP-EAGAs major players are the state and the business sector and it has been

designed accordingly with the various state governments playing the major role and the

business sector acting as its partners mainly in the area of business and trade promotions. The

period of inactivity of the sub-region was caused by political and financial crisis involving

state and economic players. This is more pronounced in Sabah-Palawan relationship due to

the Philippine claim and its resulting security issues.During these times of political and

economic crisis both state to state and business and trade linkages grinds to a halt as all

players tries to consolidate and focus internally in order to cope up.

There is however more initiatives at connections between BIMP-EAGA communities

other than official and business matter and those connections would be more of the people to

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people connections. The shared social and cultural ties of the sub-region gives an impetus for

linkages at the cultural, social and academic level. When state barriers are up and the

business and trade activities are in the doldrums, interaction between people on the cultural,

social and educational side could bridge communities. An academic institution, like the PSU

can come in and establish linkages initially in the realm of academic exchanges such as

students and faculty exchange and eventually into cross cultural exchanges such as arts,

music, sports and other cultural festivals that can showcase commonality of culture and

establish bonds between communities such as Sabah and Palawan. Researches can be made

on common history and studies can be made on feasibility of trade and commerce. Most

important is that, due to the unique position of credibility and being a repository of

knowledge, the academe can guide the state and business into the appropriate steps in

furthering long established ties and solving problems confronting sub-regional exchange,

Palawan at the crossroad

Palawan, has been for a long period of time, one of the most under developed province in

the Philippines. The most obvious and simplest reason for this is because of their distance

from the central government of the country. From the colonial period and up to the successive

Philippine government, it has been viewed as merely a source of raw materials such as

lumber, mineral ore and fishery products. It simply was located at the dead end of the

development highway, meaning after reaching it, there was nowhere to go but back to

Manila. It is an isolated island and its nearest neighbor, Sabah, belongs to another country

and one cannot just go there without getting clearances, legal permits, and if one manage to

get one, there is no direct transportation access. In case, one wants to go to Sabah, you need

to go to Manila from Palawan, then fly to Sabah, ironically passing by Palawan on your way

there.

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 BIMP-EAGA has changed that. With this sub-regional grouping and the opening of the

border, the province is no longer a dead-end but is now a bridge that connects the Philippines

and Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

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