U.S. turns over Palawan boat facility to Philippine Marines

Posted to the Mindanao Examiner (Apr 16, 2022): U.S. turns over Palawan boat facility to Philippine Marines

THE UNITED States turned over a newly constructed assault boat maintenance bay facility in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan to the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) as part of a small-scale construction Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant.

The facility is one of three FMF construction projects, valued overall at P256.9 million ($5 million). The two others are in Zamboanga City in Mindanao and in Ternate City in Luzon and were turned over in November 2021 and in February, respectively.

The Puerto Princesa structure is valued at approximately P17.5 million ($340,000) and consists of a 30m long x 16m wide x 4.5m high maintenance bay and a 5-ton gantry crane. The facility will be used primarily by the Assault Boat Battalion as well as other tenant commands co-located at the 3rd Marine Brigade Headquarters in Puerto Princesa.

The mission of the Assault Boat Battalion is to conduct sea-to-shore amphibious operations as well as maritime interdiction boardings at sea.

“We are inspired to see the PMC pursue its bold and vital modernization plan to expand its presence and maintain its maritime fleet in order to meet the full array of challenges in these archipelagic waters. Together, the United States and the Philippines will continue to make great strides in the pursuit of free and open waters,” said U.S. Senior Defense Official and Chief of the Joint U.S. Military Assistance Group-Philippines Col. Stephen Ma.

PMC Commandant Maj. Gen. Nestor Herico also thanked the U.S. for the facility. “On behalf of the PMC, we are grateful for this facility, others like it, and the ironclad U.S.-Philippine partnership. We are very grateful for this assistance and this alliance,” he said.

In the past five years alone, the United States has provided over P15.8 billion ($302.3 million) in grant assistance through FMF to support the Philippines’ sovereignty and modernization efforts. (Cebu Examiner)

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