Why not Tomas Cloma?

over Fonacier Highway

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, April 21 (PIA)—Why look far when there is somebody equally worthy of the honor, and he is a local?

This forms the gist of the statement which gubernatorial candidate Leoncio Evasco gave, over the recent renaming of the Panglao Circumferential Road to Anos Fonacier Highway.

Anos Fonacier, an Ilocano, is often referred to as the father of Bohol Tourism and acquired lots in Panglao where he built Bohol Beach Club, which stood at the forefront of the hotel industry in the tourism island.

For this, Congressman Rene Relampagos passed a law, dedicating the 38 kilometer Panglao belting highway to the tourism visionary.

Panglao and Dauis people however claimed they were not consulted and only knew of the renaming when it was announced on the local papers.

For former Maribojoc mayor Evasco, if there is to be given honor for such, it has to be Admiral Tomas Cloma.

Tomás Arbolente Cloma Sr. was born September 18, 1904 to Ciriaco Cloma y Arbotante, a Spanish immigrant and Irenea Arbolente y Bongay, a native of Panglao, Bohol.

As a young boy, Tomas, like most boys in the coastal towns, looked outward and beyond the sea of his land of birth to the call of adventure and the sea. 

Setting off to Manila, Tomas had brought with him a self that has been minted in hardships and hard work, plus a business sense that he let loose in Manila until he finished as a lawyer in 1941.

The call of the sea however was stronger and with the dangers of the war, he set up an inter-island trading, putting up the Commercial Information Service and founded in 1948 the country’s largest school for local and foreign seamen: the Philippine Maritime Institute, which was later renamed PMI Colleges.

An explorer, a dreamer, Cloma set up a fleet of commercial fishing boats, and engaged in commercial and international shipping, where he sailed      

A lawyer and founder of the Philippine Maritime Institute, Cloma owned ships that sailed in search of wealth from the sea. From 1947 to 1950, fishing boats of Tomas Cloma and Associates frequented the rich fishing grounds in the South China Sea and discovered a group of islands outside the Paracel Islands which has been claimed by France.

It was accordingly on May 11, 1956, when, for the Filipino people, Tomas Cloma and his brother Filemon as captain of the ship, along with 40 men, took formal possession of the islands, lying some 380 miles west of the southern end of Palawan and named it “Free Territory of Freedomland.”

He also issued and posted copies of his “Notice to the Whole World” on each of the 7 islands, 2 reefs and 1 islet here, as a decisive manifestation of unwavering claim over the territory.

He also declared to the whole world his claim and the establishment of a separate government for the “Free Territory of Freedomland” with its capital on Flat Island (Patag Island).

Internationally referenced now as the Spratlys, Cloma’s claim forms part of the Kalayaan Chain of Islands which the Philippines now has claims.

In 1974, Cloma, who was writing for the Manila Bulletin's shipping section, was ordered by then President Ferdinand Marcos, to be thrown to prison, for "usurpation of authority," even if he did not claim the islands for the Philippines as he did not have the authority, but claimed it for the people.

He was released only several months later when he turned over all claims to the islands under a "Deed of Assignment and Waiver of Rights" to the Philippine government.

Then, the Philippines secretly transformed the biggest uninhabited island into a fortification and named it "Pag-Asa Island," complete with a heavily armed battalion of Marines, and a 1.3 km- runway, making it easily accessible from Manila.

According to historian Jose Abueva, it was the first and the last time our country added a new area to our territory beyond what the Spanish turned over to the US when they left in 1898.

“It is not that I have something against Atty. Fonacier, he was a friend. But, why look far to name [highway], why not a Boholano and a Panglaoanon at that?” Evasco asked. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)