Excerpt from pna.gov.ph
Philippine Marine troops, together with the municipal government of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, are constructing a sovereignty marker in a remote island of the province, military officials said Wednesday.
The marker is being built on Panguan Island, which formerly serves as a haven for kidnappers, smugglers, and other lawless groups.
The island falls under the political jurisdiction of Barangay Datu Baguinda Puti, Sitangkai, the southernmost place in the Philippines, bordering the countries of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Brig. Gen. Romeo Racadio, 2nd Marine Brigade commander, who visited Panguan Island on Christmas eve, led the groundbreaking ceremony that signaled the start of the marker construction.
“As an exercise of sovereignty, the marker demonstrates the belongingness of the maritime feature and its inhabitants to one country,” Racadio said in a statement Wednesday.
“The local government (of Sitangkai) needs to place one, because, Panguan or locally called ‘Panggungan’ (resting safe area), is too remote from the provincial seat of government but close to another foreign place,” added Racadio, who is also the Joint Task Force Tawi-Tawi commander.
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