Navy to decommission 4 ships; crews to be retrained for new assets

The Philippine Navy will decommission four of its elderly ships on Monday, its chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said on Sunday.

Scheduled for decommissioning were the BRP Quezon (PS70), BRP Pangasinan (PS31), BRP Emilio Liwanag (PC118), and BRP Salvador Abcede (PC114).

Bacordo pointed out that these ships would be decommissioned because they had outlived their usefulness.

“‘Yung mga barko na yun ay can no longer attain the desired speed, they can no longer attain their designed speed nila. Tapos they are already so costly to maintain,” the vice-admiral explained.

“Itong mga [bagong] frigates hindi sila 100 percent filled out, itong mga darating natin na fast attack interdiction missile [craft]. So some of the personnel there will be trained to man these future fast attack interdiction craft missile natin,” he added.

Aside from these, Bacordo said they want to concentrate more of their resources on fewer but larger vessels than to many ships that need a lot of maintenance.

“Instead of spreading your resources thinly among the different vessels, you decommission ‘yung iba,” he said.

“And then the budget for those vessels i-transfer mo dun sa mga bagong vessels para mas malaki ang funds nila for the sustainment, so it’s better for us overall,” he added. — DVM, GMA News