MANILA, Philippines - Beaming with pride, Navy officers and men welcomed yesterday the docking of the biggest and brand new warship, the BRP Tarlac, at the Manila South Harbor’s Pier 13.
Hundreds of Marines and Navy personnel as well as retired military men watched as the mammoth vessel, escorted by a tugboat, slowly made her way to her berthing place at around 4 p.m. yesterday.
“With much jubilation, excitement and pride, the Philippine Navy today shares with our Filipino people a very important milestone not only for the Navy and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), but for the whole maritime nation,” said Navy chief Vice Admiral Ceasar Taccad.
He said the Indonesian-made BRP Tarlac is the newest addition to the Navy’s fleet and is the largest among its floating assets and the first Landing Dock Vessel in the fleet.
Named after the province of Tarlac, one of the eight provinces that raised arms against the Spaniards during the Philippine Revolution in 1866, the warship is slated to serve as an effective conveyance for troop and cargo movement from one operational area to another.
The vessel, once commissioned, will be placed under the Navy’s Sealift Amphibious Forces of the Philippine Fleet.
BRP Tarlac is one of two Landing Dock Vessels that the government has procured from Indonesian’s shipbuilder PT Pal (Persero) through the AFP Modernization Trust Act Fund amounting to P3.8 billion.