Navy’s new warship arriving on August 3

Manila Times/Manila

In a statement released yesterday, the Philippine embassy in Washington said Philippine consul general to Los Angeles, Maria Hellen Barber de La Vega, and members of the Filipino community welcomed The Alcaraz as it arrived at the 52nd US Naval Base in San Diego, California on June 29. The Philippine Navy’s second Hamilton class cutter is the sister ship of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, which was acquired by the Philippines under the excess defence article and military assistance programmme.

The BRP Gregorio del Pilar was acquired in August 2011, and was sent last year in the middle of the standoff with Chinese vessels in the Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal) in the West Philippine Sea.

The Alcaraz arrived in San Diego on June 28 after travelling 2,000 nautical miles from Charleston in South Carolina. It has 14 officers and 74 crew led by Captain Ernesto Baldovino.

“The ship is capable of conducting patrols for long periods of time and can withstand heavy weather and rough sea conditions,” the statement said.

It was named after Commodore Ramon Alcaraz, a Philippine Navy officer, who distinguished himself during World War II when the patrol boat he commanded was credited for shooting down three Japanese aircraft.

De La Vega said that Alcaraz is a “fitting acquisition for the AFP’s (Armed Forces of Philippines) modernisation programme, and enhances the naval assets of the country.

 The new warship arrives amid the ever-increasing territorial tensions between the Philippines and China. Manila is a long-standing ally of Washington in the Asia Pacific region. It has repeatedly banked on its decades-old mutual defence treaty in the face of China’s aggressiveness in the region despite a lack of an actual commitment from the US that it will come to the Philippines’ aid in case armed conflict erupts.