Free Territory of Freedomland

The Free Territory of Freedomland was a micronation which covered the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. It was established by Tomás Cloma.

Free Territory of Freedomland

Micronation
1956–1974
Flag
Government
• Leader
Tomás Cloma (1956-1974)
John de Mariveles (1974)
Formation
History 
• "Notice to the Whole World"
May 15, 1956
• Establishment
May 31, 1956
• Renaming to Colonia
August 1974
• "Acquisition" by the Philippines
September 1974
• Established
1956
• Disestablished
1974
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Republic of China
Republic of the Philippines

History

In January 1935, the Committee of Reviewing Water and Land Maps of the Republic of China, which presently controls Taiwan, published both Chinese names and English names of 132 insular features in the South China Sea.[1]

While China, Japan, the Philippines, and many other nations have been in the South China Sea for many centuries, this article discusses Tomas Cloma's claim to Freedomland for the Philippines.

In 1947, it was reported that Captain Filemon Cloma was fishing off Palawan[2][3][4][5] when Typhoon Jennie forced him to seek shelter, leading his group of fishing vessels west of Palawan, into the Spratlys.[6] The group discovered a vast frontier which served as good fishing grounds.[4][5] Filemon Cloma and brother Tomas Cloma consulted the maps for the islands, but didn't find maps containing the islands. Tomas Cloma hoped to set up a fish cannery[4][7] (and mine the guano[7]- interestingly, Japan also wanted to use the area for guano back around 1920 [8]), and thus funded an expedition led by Filemon and crew to explore the islands.[4]

In 1950, Philippine President Elpidio Quirino said that "as long as China (ROC) held the Spratlys, the Philippines would not press its own claim".[1]

On March 15, 1956, Filemon Cloma, funded by Tomas Cloma, landed on the islands with a group of men.[7]

On May 11, 1956, funded by Tomás Cloma Sr., Filemon Cloma led 40 men in taking formal possession of the islands,[9][10] lying some 380 miles (612 km) west of the southern end of Palawan and named them Freedomland.[1]

On May 15, 1956, Tomas Cloma issued his "Notice to the Whole World."[11] Filemon Cloma led a 40 man Filipino crew in hoisting a Filipino flag on one of the islands of Freedomland, and posted copies of that notice, along with possession notices on each of the islands[12][2]- 53 islands and islets with a total area of 64,976 square miles.[12][2][7] Tomas Cloma asserted that the territory was without owner, since Japan renounced ownership in the San Francisco Peace Conference in 1951.[2]

On May 21, 1956, Tomas Cloma declared the establishment of the Free Territory of Freedomland.[7] Ten days later, he sent his second representation to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs informing the latter that the territory claimed was named Freedomland. Tomas Cloma appointed a government to Freedomland, including government personnel Secretary of State: Manuel Aguilar; Minister of Foreign Affairs: Donald Trayler; Minister of Transportation: Virgilio G. Cloma; Minister of Maritime Affairs: Filemon Cloma; Minister of Commerce: Rizal Cloma; Minister of Justice: Santiago Pastor, JR.; and Finance Minister: Teodora Agbayani.

On July 6, 1956, Cloma declared to the world his claim and establishment of a separate government with its capital on Flat Island (also known as Patag Island).

On October 1, 1956, at Bei Zi Reef in the South China Sea [13][14][15] (called North Danger Reef in [16]), two nationalist Chinese ships (called Taiwanese ships in [17][16][18])- namely, the Ning Yuan (寧遠) flotilla of the Republic of China Navy (ROC),[13] containing ROC naval vessels Taihe and Yongshun [14][15]- approached Filemon Cloma's expedition with the boat PMI-IV [10][7][12][3] "and invited Captain Cloma (and Chief Engineer Benito Danseco, and other crew members[14][15]) and aboard (the naval vessel Tai He [14][15]) for a conference. A 4-hour [7] discussion over ownership ensued, during which Cloma was below deck, unaware that a boarding party had searched his vessel and confiscated all arms/ammunition,[19][18][9][7][3] maps and documents. Captain Cloma protested but was treated discourteously, interrogated,[14] and kept under detention until allowed to rejoin his boat. The next day he was again invited aboard the Chinese ship. There, even under threat to their lives, Cloma and his officers refused[9][10] to recognize that Freedomland was Chinese territory and to sign a statement[17][14][15][18][3] (signed under duress, according to Filemon Cloma's son [7][16][3]) that they would leave Freedomland and never come back. Cloma was forced to surrender arms for which he was given a receipt, whereupon the Chinese ship left Ciriaco. Captain Cloma found that the houses on Ciriaco and Irenea had been removed, and the buildings on Abad Santos Island burned down."[9][7] (Quotation marks directly above indicated heavy paraphrasing from [9].)

After the Chinese government's building burning and confiscation of property, Tomas and Filemon Cloma agitated for the Government of the Philippines to support their claims to Freedomland.[9][10][19][20][8]

In 1972, Tomas Cloma was jailed by Philippine President Ferdinand E. Marcos for four months for "impersonating a military officer by being called an "admiral".[21] In August 1974, Tomas Cloma changed the name of the country from Freedomland to Colonia. At that same time, he retired as titular head of state in favor of John de Mariveles.[22]

In December 1974, Tomas Cloma was arrested and forced to sign a document to convey to the Philippines whatever rights he might have had in the territory for one peso.[23][10] There are Philippine claims that they acquired the territory through that document.

In 1978, the Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree No. 1596 to include the majority of the Spratly Islands as being Philippine territory.[1][10]

Key figures

Tomás Cloma

Tomás Arbolente Cloma Sr. (born Tomás Cloma y Arbolente; 18 September 1904 – 18 September 1996) was the leader and founder of Freedomland. He was a Filipino lawyer and businessman from the province of Bohol. Cloma was born in Panglao to Ciriaco Cloma y Arbotante, a Spanish immigrant, and Irenea Arbolente y Bongay, a native of Panglao, Bohol.[24][21] He was the owner of a fishing fleet, and owner of a private maritime training institute, the PMI Colleges (formerly known as Philippine Maritime Institute). He aspired to open a cannery and develop guano deposits in the Spratlys. It was principally for economic reasons, therefore, that he claimed islands in the Spratlys.[6]

Filemon Cloma

Filemon Ciracao Cloma (21 March 1921 - 14 April 1979) explored Freedomland. He was a Filipino soldier and businessman who served in the US Army Corps. under General Douglas MacArthur, during World War II (WWII). Cloma was born in Panglao to Ciriaco Cloma y Arbotante, a Spanish immigrant, and Irenea Arbolente y Bongay, a native of Panglao. He faked his age and a US citizenship to fight in the Signal Corps (United States Army) during the WWII Japanese invasion of the Philippines, and was chosen by Gen. MacArthur to serve as a code and cipher specialist. He escaped the Bataan Death March, and was engaged in guerilla warfare under the command of Lt. Col. Wendell Fertig in the 10th Military District (Tenth United States Army) until the end of World War II. After the war, he founded a sea exploration business which hired the soldiers trained by PMI Colleges, owned by his brother[25][26] Tomas Cloma. Filemon Cloma later led men on an expedition funded by Tomás Cloma to explore Freedomland and claim it for the Philippines.

Relevance for the Philippines

Cloma introduced a distinction between his Freedomland and the Spratlys further west. This distinction later became part of the Philippines' foreign policy. This distinction was never fully clarified. It seems that Freedomland encompasses most of what others call the Spratly Islands, but not Spratly Island itself, nor the banks and reefs lying to the west of it.[27]

Cloma's declaration was met with hostile reactions from several neighboring countries, especially Taiwan. On September 24, 1956, Taiwan reoccupied nearby Itu Aba Island (also known as Taiping Island), which it had left in 1950, and intercepted Cloma’s men and vessels found within its immediate waters. The People's Republic of China also restated its own claim afterward.[27]

In 2014 The Philippines sought adjudication of a territorial dispute with China at the International Court of Arbitration.[28] In its pleadings, the Philippines abandoned efforts to assert succession to the Cloma Claim, and instead asserted a 200-mile territorial claim under EEZ Law of the Sea. As a consequence, Freedomland (AKA Colonia) became the only successor claimant to the Cloma territory.[29]

The Free Territory of Freedomland should not be confused with the Principality of Freedomland or the Republic of Koneuwe which was set up by a French swindler also in the Spratlys but not on the same islands.[30]

Notes
  1. Shicun Wu; Keyuan Zou (2 March 2016). Arbitration Concerning the South China Sea: Philippines Versus China. Routledge. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-1-317-17989-4.
  2. Ramos, Mosch. "Spratly Islands: 1 Territory + 6 Countries = A Regional Crisis". Scribd. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  3. Granados, Ulises (2009). "Ocean Frontier Expansion and the Kalayaan Islands Group Claim: Philippines' Postwar Pragmatism in the South China Sea". International Relations of the Asia-Pacific. 9 (2): 273–274. doi:10.1093/irap/lcn029. JSTOR 26159412.
  4. Chin, Chin. "Potential for Conflict in the Spratly Islands" (PDF). Naval Postgraduate School. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  5. Osena, Leuel (31 March 2009). "Baseline Law- the Background Story of Kalayaan Islands". The Maritime Observer. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  6. Baker & Wiencek 2002, pp. 19, 29–30 (Footnote 21, citing Samuels 1982, pp. 81–86)
  7. Handle:我要改昵称. "Chapter 72 Chapter 3 Danger and Mischief 1946-1995". Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  8. Tønnesson, Stein (2001). "An International History of the Dispute in the South China Sea" (PDF). East Asian Institute: 6. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  9. Handle:Secretariat. "The History of the Kingdom of Colonia St John". Kingdom of Colonia St John: Information Services. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  10. Doyo, Ma. Ceres (25 June 2015). "The Old Man and the Sea". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  11. Severino, Rodolfo (2011). Where in the World Is the Philippines?: Debating Its National Territory. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 67–69. ISBN 9789814311717. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  12. Nguyen, Gia. "Sử gia bị đạo sử (PHẦN BA)". Vanchuongviet.org. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  13. "Exhibition of Historical Archives on the Southern Territories of the Republic of China: A Chronology of Major Events". Kuomintang Official Website. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  14. Handle:Seasresearch. "Position Paper on ROC South China Sea Policy". South China Sea: Facts and Legal Aspects. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  15. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China; Lin, David. "Peace in the South China Sea, National Territory Secure Forever: Position Paper on ROC South China Sea Policy" (PDF). Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  16. The office of the Honourable Senator Thanh Hai Ngo; Labrosse, Vincent; Wilson, Angus (15 February 2017). Disputes in the South China Sea (PDF). p. 48.
  17. Hayton, Bill (28 January 2014). The South China Sea: The Struggle for Power in Asia. Yale University Press. pp. 65–68. ISBN 9780300189544.
  18. 伍俐斌. "20世纪50年代台菲之间关于南沙群岛主权争执的历史考察" (PDF). Sinoss.net. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  19. Tsu-sung, Hsieh (13 March 2018). South China Sea Disputes, The: Historical, Geopolitical And Legal Studies. World Scientific. p. 107. ISBN 9789813234901. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  20. Kivimäki, Timo (2002). War or peace in the South China sea?. Copenhagen S, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, Biddles Ltd. p. 13. ISBN 87-91114-01-2.
  21. DFA lodges diplomatic protest on Spratlys harassment incident. Archived., April 6, 2011.
  22. Greiman, Virginia A. (February 15, 2014). "A Model for Collaborative Development in the South China Sea". The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business. 1 (1): 31–40. doi:10.13106/jafeb.2014.vol1.no1.31. ISSN 2288-4645.
  23. Womack 2006, p. 218 (Footnote 18)
  24. "Film # 007769949 Image Film # 007769949; ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM8-74XP-Z — FamilySearch.org". Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  25. "Tomas Cloma". My Heritage. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  26. Cloma, Nerio. "Ciriaco Cloma Clan of Panglao". Cloma: Welcome to the History Blog of the Cloma Clans of the Philippines. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  27. Kivimäki 2002, p. 13
  28. The Republic of the Philippines v. The People's Republic of China
  29. Kingdom of Colonia St John Website
  30. Macdonald, Ian. "Spratly Islands". Flagspot.net. Retrieved 30 June 2013.

References


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