Maintain Navy in Sangley Point to protect PH archipelago, DND urged

PHOTO by Daphne Galvez / INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker urged the Department of National Defense (DND) to retain two Navy stations in Sangley Point in Cavite to maintain security in the Philippines’ archipelago, especially in the Manila Bay area.

Under House Resolution No. 1199, Cagayan de Oro 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged the DND to stop the relocation and ensure that Naval Station Heracleo Alano and Naval Station Pascual Ledesma remain in their current location despite the Sangley Airport Development Project.

“The Sangley Point Naval Base is where the headquarters of the Philippine Fleet, the headquarters of the Naval Installation Command, and other vital facilities and offices of the Philippine Navy are located,” Rodriguez said in the resolution.

Quoting Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, Rodriguez said Sangley’s location “allows the Navy to conduct surveillance operations and use it as a staging point” and that it “is the guarding entrance to Manila Bay, which is the center of gravity of the national government.”

“Vice Admiral Bacordo reiterates that they want to keep that Navy’s presence in Sangey because ‘we want to guard the entrance to Manila Bay’ to ensure that ‘there are no security violations’,” Rodriguez said.

The lawmaker said the naval presence in that part of Cavite also serves as a reminder to Filipinos that Sangley Point was the site of the battle for Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War, which was a very important event in Philippine history that marked the end of centuries of Spanish rule in the country.

The Sangley Point International Airport (SPIA) is a 1,500-hectare master-planned international airport hub being developed by the Cavite provincial government, which has awarded the contract for the initial phase of the project to a consortium composed of MacroAsia Corp. and China Communications Co. Ltd.

The Navy has earlier opposed the plan to boot the military service command out of Sangley Point SPIA Project that is expected to ease congestion at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) in Manila. [ac]