Civilian
The island serves as a town proper to the Municipality of Kalayaan. Only this island among all Philippine-occupied Spratly islands is currently inhabited by civilian Filipinos. The civilian population, about 300 which includes children, was introduced in 2001. However, less than 200 civilian Filipinos are present in the island at a time.
The island is the only Philippine-occupied island to have a significant number of structures. These include a municipal hall, multi-purpose hall, health center, school, water-filtration plant, marina, communication tower, and military barracks. The residents raise pigs, goats and chickens and plant crops in an alloted space to supplement their supplies of goods provided by a naval vessel which visits once a month. By day, the residents get electricity from a power generator owned by the municipality. By night, they shift to stored solar power which comes from 1.5V solar panels installed in the island.
The municipality has a long-standing policy of protecting the island's environment. Aerial photos (by Google Maps) of the island reveal that more than 70% of the island is still covered with trees; this is in contrast with islands occupied by Vietnam where many trees were already cut down.
Read more about this topic: Thitu Island