Another US ship to visit Phl

Another United States (US) ship will conduct a goodwill visit to the Philippines amid efforts to extricate the warship that ran aground in Tubbataha Reef last January.

USS Emory S. Land, a submarine tender, is scheduled to arrive  Friday  in Subic Bay for a routine call, the US Embassy said in a statement.

“This visit will allow the ship to conduct maintenance, replenish supplies as well as give the crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation,” the US Embassy said.

The visit “highlights the strong historic, community, and military connections” between the US and the Philippines, it added.

The visit will be held almost two months after US warship USS Guardian ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef off Palawan.

The 1,300-ton, 68-meter-long USS Guardian got stuck dawn of Jan. 17 at the reef’s south atoll. The vessel was on its way to Puerto Princesa after a port call in Subic Bay when the incident happened.

The US Navy has blamed “faulty navigation chart data” for the incident but some sectors believe the incident was caused by human error.

Transportation Sec. Joseph Abaya previously said he has been hearing theories that US sailors manning the ship may have had too much “rest and recreation” in Subic.

Tubbataha, which spans 130,028 hectares, was named a World Heritage Site owing to extensive coral network.

The US has apologized for the accident and has promised to help rehabilitate the reef.

USS Emory S. Land is part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and is homeported in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

The ship is manned by 410 crew members, 106 of them Filipino Americans. The Filipino-American crew members hail from Botolan, Olongapo City, San Antonio,  and Pasay City. – Alexis Romero