The 44-meter multi-role patrol vessel will be assigned to the Philippine coast guard.
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Japan has delivered the first of 10 patrol vessels to Philippines as part of the official development assistance loan to help Manila’s maritime capabilities. Philippines is contributing 1.4 billion pesos to the 10-vessel project and is expected to be completed by 2018, Japan Times reported Thursday.
In a speech at the docking ceremony on Thursday morning, Rear Admiral William Melad – Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard – said, this will beef up their existing fleet of 485 vessels which will help in their “speedy response to rescue and rehabilitation efforts and. enable them to stand up to maritime bullies” among others.
The MRRVs will be deployed to various PCG districts across the Philippines, including Manila, La Union, and Puerto Princesa.
In addition to these 44-meter MRRVs, Japan and the Philippines are also looking at the transfer of two larger 90-meter MMRVs to Manila.
Japan and China are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea.
Japan has no claims in the waterway but worries about China’s growing military reach across sea lanes through which much of Japan’s trade passes.
Apart from Japan, the Philippines has been seeking closer defence ties its traditional allies like the United States and Australia in order to boost its capabilities against China.
According to PCG, the vessel will be an additional floating asset to the search and rescue vessels being utilized by the Coast Guard in the performance of its mandated functions within the maritime jurisdiction of the country.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Philippine counterpart Perfecto Yasay Jr. last week called on China to observe the rule of law in settling maritime disputes.
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea where about $5 trillion worth of sea-borne trade passes every year.
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China says is has the right to do whatever work it wants on its territory, and its aims are entirely peaceful, but an arbitration court in The Hague last month rejected China’s historic claim to the South China Sea.
