THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 5 Number 5 | February 2015
08
PH to buy naval landing
craft from Australia
THE
Philippines will buy three surplus naval
landing craft from Australia in addition to two
vessels Canberra has donated to deal with future
relief efforts following typhoons, a defence official
said recently.
THE three 44.5-metre-long
(146-foot) craft, which are
designed to carry heavy supplies, will be acquired and refurbished at a cost of around
726 million pesos ($ 16.5 million), said Defence Department public affairs chief Arsenio Andolong.
"By market standards,
these are almost giveaway
prices," he told AFP.
"These vessels will be
used for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Andolong said.
The Australian embassy
confirmed that the Philippines
had expressed its intention to
purchase the three vessels.
Australian Defence Minister Kevin Andrews previously announced that two of
the same ships would be donated to the Philippines to
help with humanitarian assistance and relief work, and
would arrive in the Southeast
Asian archipelago in May.
Australia saw the need for
Australian Defence Minister
Kevin Andrews
such vessels after a shortage
during relief operations following Super Typhoon Haiyan, Andolong said.
Haiyan, the strongest
storm ever recorded on land,
decimated whole towns and
villages when it struck in November 2013.
The Australian military
were dispatched to help victims of the storm, which left
more than 7,350 people dead
or missing.
"They know we are typhoon prone and they saw the
effects of (Haiyan) on us,"
Andolong said.
The
poorly-equipped
Philippine military is one of
the weakest in the region and
the government is looking to
foreign allies to help bolster
its resources.
Federal Member for
Banks David Coleman welcomed the announcement.
“My community of Banks
in the St George – Bankstown
region of Sydney has a substantial Filipino community, and I believe that it is important that we continue to
find ways for the Philippines
and Australia to work together. The provision of this Defence equipment to the Philippines is a practical example of
how Australia 6