Navy to decommission 4 'legacy ships' March 1

From the Philippine News Agency (Feb 26, 2021): Navy to decommission 4 'legacy ships' March 1 (By Priam Nepomuceno)  February 26, 2021, 1:41 pm

The Philippine Navy (PN) will formally decommission four legacy ships in Sangley Point, Cavite on Monday (March 1).

Decommissioning ceremonies will take place at 4 p.m. at Captain Salvo Pier, Naval Base Heracleo Alano, Sangley Point, Cavite City, PN public affairs office chief Commander Benjo Negranza said in an advisory on Friday.

The ships to be decommissioned are the BRP Quezon (PS-70), a former Auk-class minesweeper of the US Navy constructed during World War II and transferred to the PN in 1967; the BRP Pangasinan (PS-70), a former US Navy patrol craft escort built in 1943 and turned over to the country in 1948; the Tomas Batilo-class fast patrol craft, BRP Salvador Abcede (PC-114); and the BRP Emilio Liwanag (PC-118), which were acquired from South Korea in 1996.

PN chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo earlier told the Philippine News Agency that these ships need to be decommissioned as they are now too old and costly to maintain and operate.

"These ships have already served our nation more than enough and are now too costly to maintain," he said.

Bacordo said the PN is phasing out these ships so that the Navy can "devote more resources to our newly-acquired ships".

"We have to allocate our meager budget to maintain our more modern warships," Bacordo added.

The PN chief, however, assured the public that they have sufficient ships remaining to conduct their various missions.

"Notwithstanding, we have a sufficient number of ships to continue performing our mandate to protect our people, secure our sovereignty and the integrity of our national territory," Bacordo said.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1131907