THE Philippines has given its approval to a proposal of the United States to build a new boat maintenance facility inside a naval base in Puerto Princesa City in Palawan.
The facility will be set up at the Naval Detachment Oyster Bay in Ulugan Bay, Palawan which faces key tension hotspots in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea.
“The project is approved by the government of the Philippines,” the US Embassy in Manila said in a statement yesterday.
It added the facility will provide repair and maintenance capabilities for several small watercraft of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and will feature two multipurpose interior rooms suitable for equipment storage or conference use.
The embassy said the facility will not be a US military base.
A public solicitation by the US Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command dated July 7 seeks to construct support infrastructure to host Philippine vessels in the area located only 160 miles east of the flashpoint of Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal).
The facility, according to the solicitation, is expected to support at least five vessels, including assault boats and rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
The military is using such vessels for resupply missions to Filipino troops manning a Philippine outpost in Ayungin.
Washington is helping Manila upgrade the capability of its military, long configured for internal security missions, amid continued Chinese intrusions in its exclusive economic zone.
The two countries are bound by a defense treaty to come to each other’s aid in case of foreign invasion and armed attack.
