4 Philippine Navy ships to be decommissioned

The Philippine Navy will decommission on Monday two of its legacy ships and two 1970s Korean-made patrol craft in rites at the Captain Salvo Pier of the Heracleo Alano Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite City. Vice Adm. Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, chief of the Philippine Navy, said the four vessels had “outlived their usefulness” and were costly to maintain. To be decommissioned are BRP Quezon (PS-70), BRP Pangasinan (PS-31), BRP Salvador Abcede (PC-114), and BRP Emilio Liwanag (PC-118). Bacordo pointed out that the four ships “can no longer attain their designed speed and they are already so costly to maintain. They have been spending more time in the shipyard for maintenance instead of in the operational area,” Bacordo said on Sunday that the personnel assigned in these vessels would be trained to man incoming and bigger ships.

—JeanNette I. Andrade