They shouldn't have to worry about that. Palawan is home to the Philippine Armed Forces' Western Command. Specifically, if I recollect, they have a forward deployed Marine Base also in Pag-Asa Island which gives them operational awareness.
Palawan has a considerable deployed forces from the Philippine Army and Philippine Marine Corp. Not to mention that there are rotation of American troops there provided through the Visiting Status Agreement, which enables rotation of US military forces (marines, army) throughout the military bases in the Philippines; the ones in Palawan are included in this rotation.
Palawan is not a minor shoal, it is a major island , with population nearing 1 million , and being so close to the major islands in the Visayas, and Southern Luzon. An invasion by any agitator state would automatically result in an immediate response from the Armed Forces of the Philippines , The United States, and Japan.
There's talk of a new base too:
New naval base is Philippine military's top priority - armed forces chief
The Philippine military's top priority is to build a naval base on the country's western coastline, opposite the disputed Spratly islands, although the plans have been delayed by funding bottlenecks, the Philippine armed forces chief told Reuters.
General Gregorio Catapang said U.S.,
Japanese and Vietnamese naval vessels would be allowed to make port calls once the facility at Oyster Bay on the Philippine island of Palawan was finished.
Developing the island paradise into a military facility could exacerbate tensions with
China, which claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the vital waterway.
Palawan, part of the main Philippine island chain, is about 160 km (100 miles) from the Spratlys, where China's rapid land reclamation around seven reefs is causing alarm among some Asian countries and drawing increasing criticism from Washington.
"We feel this is the number one priority because of the emerging security situation," Catapang said in an interview late on Monday at a military base in the Palawan capital, Puerto Princesa City, after taking reporters to a Philippine-held island in the Spratlys.
"As soon as we have the money, we will pour resources there," he said.
China last month offered a detailed defence of its reclamation in the Spratlys, saying the new islands would provide civilian services such as weather forecasting and search and rescue facilities that would benefit other countries.
China rebuked the Philippines on Tuesday for taking journalists to one disputed island, dismissing its occupation as "futile and illegal" in the latest war of words between the two sides.
Catapang said 800 million pesos (11.46 million pounds) was needed for the initial development of the naval facility and then 5 billion pesos to turn it into a major operating base.
While plans had been drawn up, they were stalled by a lack of funds, he said.
"There is nothing there yet, we are still constructing an access road and upgrading the water and oil depots that would service ships. There's still much work to do," he said.
Japan, which is helping Manila boost its maritime capabilities, might fund infrastructure around the base but not the facility itself, a Japanese source with knowledge of the plan said earlier this year.
Washington has asked for access to Philippine military bases in eight locations to rotate troops, aircraft and ships for training as Washington shifts more of its forces to Asia, Catapang said last month.
Security ties between the Philippines and Vietnam are also growing in light of China's assertiveness.
The Philippine navy has said it planned to base two former U.S. Coast Guard cutters at Oyster Bay, a sheltered cove within the much larger Ulugan Bay, once the facility was finished.
From
New naval base is Philippine military's top priority - armed forces chief| Reuters
No such country called "the Philippines" existed until recently. We could call it the Moro and Cham Seas, with a North Ryukyu Sea above.
And South Sudan wasn't a nation until a few years ago, what's your point? When a nation became one doesn't matter - else all of Europe would have a territorial claim to all the rest, the US would still be British, India too, life doesn't work that way. The Philippines exists just as much as South Sudan, The US, Norway, Russia or any other nation.