BRP Ramon Alcaraz to join Yolanda aid mission Friday

The BRP Ramon Alcaraz US EMBASSY PHOTO RELEASE

MANILA, Philippines – The BRP Ramon Alcaraz, the second warship acquired by the Philippine Navy from the United States, will be commissioned on Friday in simple commissioning rites and will be immediately deployed to its first assignment in typhoon-battered Eastern Visayas.

The Friday event will be a christening, commissioning and send-off ceremony all at the same time. It will be held at Pier 15 in South Harbor in Manila with Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin as guest.

Immediately after the ceremonies, it will go on its first mission – humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations for the victims of Yolanda-struck areas.

Its sister ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar is already in Tacloban City in Leyte. It will join foreign warships that are also doing their relief efforts in typhoon-ravaged areas.

“The vessel will be transporting relief items from different government agencies and nongovernment organizations. BRP Alcaraz will also be ferrying Navy personnel that will be utilized for various relief operations which will include but not limited to clearing operations, medical missions, relief goods distribution, repair and rehabilitation and security augmentation,” Navy spokesman Lieutenant Commander Gregory Fabic said.

Both the decommissioned US Coast Guard ships, now referred to as del Pilar-class frigates, were acquired under the US Excess Defense Articles program.

In August, President Benigno Aquino led the arrival ceremony of the warship in Subic amid tensions between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

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