Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana led the inauguration and turnover ceremony of the beaching ramp at Pagasa Island in the West Philippine Sea on Tuesday.

The completion of the beaching ramp was marked by a ceremony also attended by military forces, media personnel and the residents in the Island.

Lorenzana emphasized the importance of completing the construction of the beaching ramp for repairs and development of other facilities in the Island.

“We can now proceed with the other projects planned for Pag-asa Island. This is a necessary first step which will facilitate the transportation of essential construction equipment to the island,” he said.

"Very significant, because (with) the beaching ramp we can now bring in more material, equipment to continuously repair and later on to maintain our airstrip," the defense chief said..

"We have waited for this beaching ramp. Because it's now operational, we can go full blast already. Any project here like barracks for soldiers, the houses of people here, schools, electricity, tower, solar, diesel, hybrid everything we will improve this. We'll put money here," Lorenzana added.

However, Lorenzana reiterate that the government does not have a plan to militarize the Island.

"The purpose of this is just to develop this area into a viable community. We have troops here but they are only armed with small arms," he said.

"Of course soldiers should be armed but were not gonna field heavy weapons. We will not militarize this. I call it militarization if we bring in other weapons... like cannons, missiles, everything. We will not do that here," he added.

Arsenio Andolong, Department of National Defense (DND) public affairs service chief, said "with a budget of P 267.18 million, the construction of the beaching ramp on Pag-asa is one of several projects aimed at improving the living conditions of the people in the Municipality of Kalayaan."

"A total of P 1.3 billion worth of projects are also in the pipeline, including the repair and concreting of the runway that has been damaged by erosion," he added.

Lorenzana said a sheltered port for fishing vessels, funded by the Department of Transportation and implemented by the provincial government of Palawan, has also been built on the island.

The facility was made so fishermen can take shelter during inclement weather.

"He (Transportation) Secretary Arthur Tugade) will also build an ice plant so that the fishermen can deposit their catch," he said. Robina Asido/DMS