Eighty-five years since its founding, the Armed Forces of the Philippines held a rare parade at sea—a first in recent years. Seven large Philippine Navy ships followed by smaller vessels, passed by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and senior military officials who were aboard the BRP Davao del Sur (LD-602) off the coast of Morong, Bataan on a bright, sunny day in mid-December. Dozens of aircraft, old and new, put on a show in the skies.
Leading the line of ships were no longer hand-me-downs. BRP Jose Rizal (FF-150), the newly-acquired multi-role frigate from South Korea, took the lead, while BRP Tarlac (LD-601), an Indonesian-built landing dock vessel like the Davao del …
Keep on reading: PH military trudges on a long road to credible defense capacity