President Rodrigo Duterte led the commissioning rites of the BRP Melchora Aquino at the South Harbor on Sunday, June 12, 2022. (Photo from the PCOO)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte led the commissioning on Sunday of the Japan-made BRP Melchora Aquino, the newest addition to the Philippine Coast Guard’s (PCG) fleet, which is expected to improve its capability to monitor the country’s coastlines.
Melchora Aquino is the PCG’s second Teresa Magbanua-class multirole response vessel whose design was based on the Japan Coast Guard’s Kunigami patrol vessel and built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd.
Melchora Aquino, named after the revolutionary heroine known as “Tandang Sora” (Old Lady Sora), was delivered only on June 1 and was set to be commissioned in September, but the schedule was moved forward to June 12.
First of its class
BRP Teresa Magbanua, the first of its class, was delivered only in February and was commissioned only last month.
The president read Melchora Aquino’s commission order during simple rites at South Harbor in Manila where he thanked the Department of Transportation, the PCG’s mother agency, for enhancing the coast guard’s fleet, whose vessels have been sent to check Chinese incursions and assist harassed Filipino fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea.
Duterte said that when he steps down from office and becomes a civilian, he hoped that the PCG would invite him on one of its vessels and sail to the West Philippine Sea.
‘Maybe I could ride’
“Someday I could, maybe, ride with the Coast Guard to see. Even if I’m already a civilian, I wish you give a little [recognition] … that you can invite me to ride with you. It does not have any ramifications because I’m already a civilian. And I could maybe ride with you to the West Philippine Sea. It is a gamble,” he said.
He reiterated that despite his cordial relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mr. Duterte said he “made it clear to him (Xi) that we cannot give up sovereignty over the waters in the [West] Philippine Sea, including the exclusive economic zone because it’s vital for our national life.”
While campaigning for the presidency, Duterte said he would defend Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea even if he had to ride a jet ski to Scarborough Shoal, which was seized by the Chinese in 2012. But he later said he was speaking hyperbolically and should not have been taken seriously.
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