Life on the Philippines' quiet front line in the South China Sea

For the community living on Thitu Island, their presence is a quiet act of patriotism

- Mara Cepeda

THITU ISLAND, SOUTH CHINA SEA - Every morning at 7am, Filipino government worker Elmer Bania steps into his office and looks out the window facing the sea. Just beyond the horizon, he spots the grey and white silhouettes of Chinese-flagged vessels — uninvited yet expected.

But the 62-year-old does not flinch at the sight.

It's just another day on Thitu Island, where some 335 Filipino civilians live on the front lines of the South China Sea dispute.

Locals call it Pag-asa, the Filipino word for hope. It lies about 500km west of Palawan Island province, within the cluster of atolls and reefs comprising the Spratly Islands that are claimed by six countries, including the Philippines.

These contested waters, a major fishing ground that is also believed to be rich in oil and natural gas reserves, have long been shadowed by China's maritime claims. Filipinos have their own name for the Spratlys archipelago — the Kalayaan island group, meaning freedom in the Filipino language.

For settlers like Mr Bania, their presence on Thitu is a quiet act of patriotism. Hope, he tells The Straits Times, is both the name of his island home and a peaceful form of defiance in the face of a global superpower.

"We're not going to let China take over Pag-asa. This is our home! Filipinos do not yield to anyone."

HOPE IN A SEA OF TENSIONS The Straits Times was among a handful of media outlets invited by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to join a rare five-day patrol across the Spratlys, a journey timed just before the country marks its 126th Independence Day on June 12.

We flew in on a military aircraft that landed on Pag-asa Island's airstrip, then clambered into rubber boats to reach the naval ship that would take us around the rest of the Philippine-held features in the Spratlys.