Philippine Navy to decommission two legacy vessels

The Philippine Navy is set to decommission two of its legacy vessels, BRP Rizal (PS74) and BRP Nicolas Mahusay (PC119), in Sangley Point, Cavite on Wednesday.

According to Philippine Fleet commander Rear Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, the decommissioning process is part of the Navy's phase-in, phase-out program.

"We are already modernizing so if you modernize you have to remove from inventory already all the legacy Navy kasi how can you change the systems, how can you change the mindset of our personnel," Bacordo said Tuesday.

"Nakakita sila ng bagong barko, nakakita din sila ng lumang barko... so dapat 'yung mga lumang systems, we have to remove that already from our inventory," he added.

Bacordo further noted that the vessels scheduled to be decommissioned have already "outlived their usefulness."

"Kung baga, it could no longer perform the missions that it is designed to perform," Bacordo said.

"[We] are... little by little, removing them from our inventory so that by the first semester of 2021, lahat ng barko ay already modern," he added.

Bacordo said after the decommissioning process, officials will conduct an inventory on the assets' equipment to determine which are still useful.

"Kung ano ang mga gamit aboard which can still be used will be removed, for example mga functioning ang mga baril, functioning pa ang mga radars... everything that can still be used will be removed from the ship," Bacordo said.

"Then after that, kung na-inventory na lahat na wala nang naiwan, we turn it over to the naval logistics center for the disposal procedures," he added.

Bacordo also disclosed that the Navy is eyeing to decommission other assets on a quarterly basis: "Meron pang kasunod na mga decommissioning 'yan... we already planned out every quarter, we will be decommissioning every quarter."

According to the Navy, the decommissioning ceremony for the two vessels will be at Captain Salvo Pier, Naval Base Cavite at 1 p.m. — Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News