The Philippines’ second warship, BRP Ramon Alcaraz (PF-16), has arrived in Palawan province for what military officials described as a “routine patrol” of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
President Aquino on Tuesday called the second Hamilton class-cutter from the United States a big boost to the Navy in patrolling the seas amid a territorial row with China.
It sailed into the country “like a storm,” raved Malacañang on Friday, referring to a recently acquired warship from the United States that finally arrived amid a sea dispute with China.
The Philippines’ second warship acquired from the US, the BRP Ramon Alcaraz, was welcomed by local fishermen off Aurora as it entered the Philippine waters early Friday.
The Philippines’ second warship, the BRP Ramon Alcaraz, arrived early Thursday from an almost-two month voyage from the United States.
President Aquino has been hot about this week’s arrival of the Philippines’ second Hamilton-class cutter from Hawaii, but an analyst calls the secondhand vessel another “balisong” (fan knife) to China’s “machine gun.”
The BRP Ramon Alcaraz, the Philippines’ second warship cruising to its new home port, conducted a “successful” test-fire of its main weapons system in the Atlantic Ocean, the Philippine Embassy in Washington said.
Amid aggressive external threats to its sovereignty, the Philippines’ defense capabilities will get a boost with the arrival next month of its latest naval asset acquired from the United States.
The Philippines may have to wait until April next year to deploy its second warship, even as tensions triggered by conflicting ownership claims over islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) are expected to escalate.
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