The recent completion and inauguration of a military harbor project on Pagasa Island in the Municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan, has sparked a ray of hope within a small Filipino community there that the much-awaited undertaking could pave the way to bigger infrastructure projects and full-scale development of the island. Dubbed in military parlance as a “beaching ramp,” the port project should usher improvement to the island’s underdeveloped state by allowing the repair of its airfield, the improvement of the living quarters of soldiers guarding the island, and a stable power supply in the future, while hastening the delivery of other basic and essential services, according to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. Lorenzana led a group of defense-military officials at the recent inauguration of the port, one of the two similar projects on the island being claimed by China in the vast expanse of the South China Sea (SCS). Along with the repair of the airfield, the entire undertaking costs P1.8 billion.

Acosta, R. (2020, June 20). Port of hope. BusinessMirror, pp. A1, A2.