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Bacolod City, PhilippinesFriday, February 10, 2012
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Editorial

Finally, modernization

Daily Star logo
Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.
NINFA R. LEONARDIA
Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ
Editor

GUILLERMO TEJIDA III
Desk Editor
PATRICK PANGILINAN
Busines Editor

NIDA A. BUENAFE

Sports Editor
RENE GENOVE
Bureau Chief, Dumaguete
MAJA P. DELY
Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA
Administrative Officer

Not one year after the pre-owned US cutter, the Hamilton, was transferred to the Philippines, it is looking very likely that the United States will be handing over a second US Coast Guard cutter to improve our country’s maritime security capabilities in the light of heightened tension in the South China Sea.

Republican Rep. Ed Royce told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs hearing on US-Philippines relations that the congressional review process for transferring the Coast Guard cutter Dallas will be finished this week, and the ship should soon be on its way to Manila. Last year, the US transferred the Coast Guard cutter Hamilton to the Philippines that has since been renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar and currently serves as the flagship of the Philippine Navy.

The woefully underequipped Armed Forces of the Philippines that has long been considered as the laughing stock among its peers in the region owes a debt of gratitude to whoever has been working furiously behind the scenes to achieve not just once, but twice, what no Filipino has been able to do in decades. With the addition of these two aging-but-still-more-capable-than-anything-we-ever-had US Coast Guard cutters, the Philippine Navy has suddenly upgraded its capabilities to a level it has never imagined nor experienced before and seeing what the Philippine Navy got should boost morale and inspire the rest of the AFP to continue dreaming and hoping as true modernization is no longer an impossible dream.

If the Philippines does get its 2nd USCG cutter soon, such an upgrade should result in a significant improvement in the capabilities and reach of its Navy. While the heightened tension in the South China Sea and the geography of our country makes the Navy a very important part of our security, we hope that whoever has been successful in helping the country acquire these improvements also has the other branches of the military in mind because they are in dire need of upgrades and more modern equipment as well. It would be a giant leap forward for our Army and the Air Force if they can also get upgrades or equipment that are the equivalent of the Navy getting two 2nd hand USGS cutters in two years.*

 
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