It susrprises us why the sudden courage for the Philippines to officially launch a beaching ramp in Pag-asa, one of the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea. In a gesture most ironic as we are supposed to celebrate the Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day every June 9, through Proclamation 148, signed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Jan. 24, 2002, Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, tagging along a number of journalists, inaugurated the docking facility. The ramp’s construction started in 2017 and would have been finished in a year. Lorenzana said unfriendly weather and rough seas delayed its completion, and thus the 2020 launch.

Welcome to China. (2020, June 12-13). SunStar Cagayan De Oro, p. 5.