Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson believes that the debate proposed by Senator Rodante Marcoleta on whether the Kalayaan Island Group belongs to the Philippines could potentially affect the basic right of abode of the Filipinos already living there.

Lacson thus appealed to retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and University of the Philippines professor Atty. Jay Batongbacal to spare Filipinos from such a debate.

"An earnest appeal to Justice Tony Carpio and Atty Jay Batongbacal: Let’s spare our countrymen, especially our 'kababayans' from Barangay Pag-asa, KIG, Palawan from the agony of another pointless debate that might put into question their basic right of abode," he said on his X account.

Marcoleta wants a "friendly debate" first before discussing the invitation to a Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) flight to the Kalayaan islands. This is in response to the (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea (WPS), Commodore Jay Tarriela's invitation to him on X.

Lacson maintained that the KIG belongs to the Philippines by virtue of a long-standing legal principle of "res nullius," thus rejecting Marcoleta's suggestion that the Philippines give up the KIG.

Under “res nullius,” whoever discovers and occupies the land is recognized as its owner. In the case of the Spratly Islands, lawyer and adventurer Tomas Cloma discovered the Spratly Islands and occupied them as Cloma turned over the ownership of the land to the Philippine government.

Also, there are currently Filipino families occupying the KIG, a town in Palawan, which Lacson visited in 2021.

Meanwhile, Lacson said the prolonged and heated debates in the Senate plenary over the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea on Monday were painful to watch.

Lacson said it is hard to imagine such a situation in any other legislature in the world, where lawmakers debated issues touching on their own country’s territorial integrity - a matter where all Filipinos should be united.

“It was painful to watch a heated plenary debate on the issue of territorial integrity and other related matters involving another country and our own. It is hard to imagine that it can happen in the US Senate or any parliament in the world,” he said in a post on X Monday night.

On Monday, the Senate adopted Resolution 256 condemning Chinese diplomats for their hostile statements against Filipino officials and institutions for defending the Philippines' national sovereignty.

However, this came only after almost three hours of debates between resolution author Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, who insisted that Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela’s use of a caricature depicting Chinese President Xi Jinping was wrong.

The debate was so heated that Lacson, as the presiding officer at the time, had to suspend the session twice.

Before Monday’s debate, Marcoleta had expressed opposition to the resolution as well.