Navy, PRA dredging heavily silted Manila Bay

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Navy (PN), in partnership with the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA), is dredging the heavily silted Manila Bay in line with its ongoing basing development projects for bigger warships at Sangley Point in Cavite.

Commander Jonathan Zata, Navy spokesman, said dredging operations will cover the ingress and egress channel from Manila Bay up to the port approaches of the naval facilities at Sangley Point.

For now, the Navy has to send its newer warships either to Subic or in other deeper ports across the country because of the already shallow waters to and from Naval Base Heracleo Alanao and Naval Station Pascual Ledesma, all in Cavite.

“The dredging will significantly increase the water depth and allow the accommodation of deep-draft vessels like the Del Pilar-class patrol ships and Tarlac-class landing docks,” Zata said.

He added this project is an initial step toward reviving the Naval Base Cavite as PN’s major naval facility and a major port for current deep-draft vessels and future acquisitions like the two brand-new missile-firing frigates from South Korea that are scheduled for delivery in 2020.

On top of this, the PN is also lining up various port development projects as it is gearing towards becoming a blue water navy, complete with landing dock ships, missile frigates, corvettes and submarines as well as air assets to include spy planes and anti-submarine attack helicopters.

Zata said PRA shall guide and assist the Navy in undertaking the reclamation and development of other parcels of land of the public domain in Manila, Cavite and Cebu areas that are reserved for military and naval purposes by virtue of presidential proclamations. 

“In return, on an equitable land sharing basis, a portion of the reclaimed area resulting from the dredging operations will be taken by PRA to offset whatever expenses the agency incurs on the reclamation project,” Zata said.

He added: “All these efforts manifest the command’s resolve for worthwhile, advantageous and strategic use of resources as it steadily improves its capabilities to better protect and secure the country and its people.”