Kalayaan Islands
| Kalayaan | ||
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| Municipality | ||
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 Map of Palawan showing the location of Kalayaan |
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.svg)
 Kalayaan
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| Coordinates: 11°03′N 114°17′E / 11.050°N 114.283°ECoordinates: 11°03′N 114°17′E / 11.050°N 114.283°E | ||
| Country |
 Philippines
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| Region | MIMAROPA (Region IV-B) | |
| Province | Palawan | |
| District | 1st District of Palawan | |
| Founded | June 11, 1978 | |
| Barangays | 1 | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor | Eugenio B. Bito-onon Jr. | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 290 km2 (110 sq mi) | |
| • Land | 0.79 km2 (0.31 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015) | ||
| • Total | 184 | |
| • Rank | 1,489 out of 1,489 Municipalities | |
| • Density | 0.63/km2 (1.6/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | PST (UTC+8) | |
| ZIP code | 5322 | |
| Income class | 5th class; rural | |
| Website | kalayaanpalawan.gov.ph | |
Kalayaan is a fifth class municipality in the Philippine province of Palawan in the Spratly archipelago, situated within the South China Sea.
Kalayaan municipality, which includes the Pagasa (Thitu) island, is 280 nautical miles north-west of Puerto Princesa and 932 kilometres (579 mi) south-west of Metro Manila. According to the 2015 census, it has a population of 184 people consisting of a single barangay located on Pag-asa Island, which also serves as the seat of the municipal government. It is the smallest municipality in the Philippines. Kalayaan's annual budget is 47 million pesos (about $1.1 million).
Pag-asa Island has a dilapidated airstrip, a 5-bed lying-in clinic, and a small elementary school.
Once a strictly a military installation, Pag-asa was opened to civilian settlement in 2002.
There are records of the island having been inhabited, at various times in history, by the Chinese and by people from the Champa Kingdom of Vietnam, and during the second world war, French Indochina and Imperial Japanese troops. However, there were no large settlements on these islands till 1956, when Filipino lawyer, businessman, adventurer and fishing magnate Tomás Cloma decided to "claim" a part of Spratly islands as his own, naming it the "Free Territory of Freedomland".
In 1946, Vice President Elpidio Quirino reiterated the Southern Islands, the forerunner name for Kalayaan, as part of the Philippines.
In 1947, Tomás Cloma "discovered" a group of several uninhabited and unoccupied islands/islets in the vastness of the Luzon Sea.
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Wikipedia