This red-throated skink of the genus Acritoscincus was found in the elevated and forested portions upstream of Balsahan River in Iwahig, Puerto Princesa City, a few hundred meters away from the Balsahan swimming pool. It may be of the species platynotum because the skink closely resembles that skink found in Australia, i.e., Acritoscincus platynotum. The difference is that instead of the black band running latero-dorsally behind the eyes of the skink, this kink species has white-yellowish band instead. The throat of this skink is obviously near orange in color. It's difficult to capture by hand so the exact size of the skink could not be measured. Based on the size of adjoining materials when the photo was taken the skink could be around 16cm in length.
Striking Resemblance
The picture below shows the skink from Australia (left) and from Palawan, Philippines (right). They resemble each other closely.
The close resemblance of the above skink with the Australian Platynotum species suggests that the Australian land mass and Palawan in the Philippines may have been joined together in the past. It is also possible that the skink in Palawan was introduced accidentally through trading galleons a long time ago.
The one on the left side was taken west of Nepean River of Sydney region in Australia. The one at right was taken along the forested bank of Balsahan River in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, Philippines. The one on the left was identified as Acritoscincus platynota (variants include platynotus and platynotum or the alternative generic name of Bassiana) or the red-throated skink.
Connected by Land Bridges
The distribution of this skink suggests that Palawan Island was once connected by land bridges with the Australian continent. Evolution may have caused them to differentiate that caused some morphological changes, but not much about its red-throated feature. The map below shows that Australia is a long way from Palawan.
Millions of years ago when seawater has receded to a low mark, it would have been possible for the skink to traverse the land and get distributed to Sydney or vice-versa.
But all these things are just hypotheses. More detailed study need to be done to verify the existence of this species and its proper nomenclature remains to be verified.
Source: Modified from How to Use The Internet in Identifying Animals
