The initial things that befall a traveler upon setting foot on international soil is a text message from their mobile service provider greeting them to the country they have arrived in and providing roaming coverage.
In the West Philippine Sea, this transpired on June 9 when government officials and reporters were greeted on Pag-Asa Island.
They received text messages sent by a cellular and data service provider. The government officials and other visitors were greeted by "Welcome to China" and "Welcome to Vietnam," reported by Head Topics.
Visitors who received the messages included media people and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. His purpose was to attend an inauguration of a beaching ramp. It would contribute to the delivery of materials for the reparations of Pag-Asa Island.
The said visitors received the text messages due to a weak local signal in their location. The gadgets apparently have detected signals from another nation's cellular tower. The disputable island claimed by the Philippines is situated within the Kalayaan Island Group that is composed of little islands.
Thus, the cell base station of the cellular provider on Pag-Asa Island is recently not in operation, explained by Smart Communications Inc. This is why the government officials and reporters who arrived in the area were instead welcomed by text messages from partner telcos, according to GMA News Online.
Smart representative Ramon Isberto stated that the cell site of the company in the location has been operating for span of months. Repairmen have been reportedly struggling to reach the location.
Pag-Asa Island is currently occupied by the country and is also one of the territories in the West Philippine Sea being claimed by China.
The total budget of the establishment of the beaching ramp in Pag-Asa, according to the Department of National Defense, has a total budget of P267.18 million.
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It is part of the numerous projects targeted at enhace the living sitation of the Kalayaan citizens.
The DND added that a total of P1.3 billion worth of projects are also in the forthcoming. This includes the concreting and repair of the weathered runway due to corrosion.
CNN Philippines reported that Lorenzana thought ot the texts as interesting and ignored them. He set forth the idea that the Philippines should also establish its own strong cellular sites on the island. They should welcome arriving mobile users with "Welcome to the Philippines!"
Isberto noted that "transport is very difficult. You can't just get a boat and go there. You have to get military clearance. And sometimes, if there's a security issue, there's no travel around."
Lorenzana freely divulged to reporters the whole content of the amusing text message that greeted him to Vietnam.
China ardently denied the arbitral ruling win of the Philippines over the debatable West Philippine Sea.
Also, the said text messages persuaded the visitors to subscribe to a roaming data plan.
The aforementioned cellular sites of China and Vietnam have been constructed over a decade ago.
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