Tomás Cloma

Tomás Cloma
Born	Tomás Cloma y Arbolente September 18, 1904 Panglao, Bohol, Philippine Islands
Died	Manila, Philippines
Occupation	Businessman and Lawyer
Parent(s)	Ciriaco Cloma y Arbotante Irenea Arbolente y Bongay

Tomás Arbolente Cloma Sr. (born Tomás Cloma y Arbolente; 18 September 1904 – 18 September 1996) was a Filipino lawyer and businessman from the province of Bohol. Cloma was born in Panglao to Ciriaco Cloma y Arbotante and Irenea Arbolente y Bongay, who were both natives of Panglao.

He is best known for establishing the micronation of Freedomland in the Spratly Islands.

Free Territory of Freedomland

Flag of the Free Territory of Freedomland.

In 1947, Tomás Cloma Sr., a Filipino adventurer and fishing magnate, found several unoccupied groups of islands in the West Philippine Sea. This forms part of the justification of territorial claims by the Philippines of the Spratly islands (along with doctrines from the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

Tomas Cloma Sr., owner of a fishing fleet, and owner of the private maritime training institute, the PMI Colleges (formerly known as Philippine Maritime Institute), aspired to open a cannery and develop guano deposits in the Spratlys. It was principally for economic reasons, therefore, that he "discovered" and claimed islands in the Spratlys.

Legacy

On May 11, 1956, Tomas Cloma Sr. together with 40 men, took formal possession of the islands, lying some 380 miles (612 km) west of the southern end of Palawan and named them Freedomland. Four days later, on May 15, 1956, Cloma issued and posted copies of his "Notice to the Whole World" on each of the islands as a manifestation of unwavering claims over the territory. On May 31, 1956, Cloma declared the establishment of the Free Territory of Freedomland, ten days later he sent his second representation to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs informing the latter that the territory claimed was named Freedomland. On July 6, 1956, Cloma declared to the whole world his claim and establishment of a separate government with its capital on Flat Island (also known as Patag Island). 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.

Cloma's declaration was met with hostile reactions from several neighboring countries, especially the Republic of China, or Taiwan. On September 24, 1956 the ROC 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, or Mainland China, also restated its own claim.

In the 1972 Cloma was jailed by Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos for four months for "impersonating a military officer by being called an ‘admiral’". In August 1974 Cloma changed the name of the country from Freedomland to Colonia. At that same time he retired as Head of State in favour of John de Mariveles. Later that year, in December 1974, 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. There are Philippine claims that they acquired the territory through that document. However the fact is that from August 1974, Cloma no longer had any territorial or sovereign rights to convey.

In 2014 The Philippines sought adjudication of territorial dispute with China at the International Court of Arbitration. 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, Colonia became the only successor claimant to the Cloma territory.

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.