A boost for Ayungin troops: Fishing firm Merlion donates fast craft

From the Philippine News Agency (Jul 30): A boost for Ayungin troops: Fishing firm Merlion donates fast craft

The maritime capabilities of Ayungin Shoal troops in the West Philippines Sea (WPS) will receive a significant boost with the addition of a patrol fast craft and fishing supplies donated by private firm Merlion Fishing Supplies, Inc. (MFSI) to arrive in the city on August 4.

The donation, a 10m x 2.5m two-engine outboard motor (OBM) fast craft, will effectively double the strength of the Philippine Navy’s (PN) patrol flotilla in Ayungin Shoal, and enhance its ability to protect sovereignty in the contested area.

The donation is a big boost to the marine soldiers guarding the Philippines' loneliest outpost aboard a rusted World War II vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre, also called Second Thomas Shoal.

A Western Command (WESCOM) source said the troops are 200 kilometers from the nearest major Philippine island, holding on to a tiny reef as part of a decades-long territorial row that in recent months had grown increasingly hostile.

For the soldiers, confronting China at sea was more daunting than other missions fighting deadly jungle battles against Islamic militants in the southern Philippines.

The driving force behind the donation was Merlion’s offshore facility manager Edmond Borja, who served as a US Navy medical corpsman and currently a full time paramedic in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid=&nid=2&rid=667694