DND urged to retain two Navy stations in Sangley Point

Cagayan De Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez is calling on the Department of National Defense (DND) to retain two stations of the Philippine Navy in Sangley Point in Cavite to help maintain the country's defenses especially in the Manila Bay area.

Rodriguez's proposal is covered in his House Resolution 1199, which urges the DND not to relocate Naval Station Heracleo Alano and Naval Station Pascual Ledesma despite the development of the Sangley Point International Airport.

According to the lawmaker, the naval base where the two stations are located serves as the headquarters of the Naval Installations Command and houses “other vital facilities and offices of the Philippine Navy.”

He pointed out that Sangley's location “allows the Navy to conduct surveillance operations and use it as a staging point," quoting Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo.

“Vice Admiral Bacordo further stated that the naval base in Sangley is guarding the entrance to Manila Bay, which is the center of gravity of the national government. If Manila Bay falls, the whole country falls,” he said.

Rodriguez said that Bacordo believes that the planned Sangley Airport and the Naval base “can operate together and can co-exist.”

At the same time, he said that the presence of the Philippine Navy in that area in Cavite reminds Filipinos that Sangley Point "was the site of the battle for Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War, which was a very important event in Philippine history that marked the end of centuries of Spanish rule in the country.”

The local government of Cavite awarded the P208.5-billion contract for the phase 1 of the Sangley Point International Airport project to the consortium of MacroAsia and CCCC.

However, Cavite Governor Jonvic Remulla said the provincial government is willing to terminate the deal with CCCC on the Sangley airport project if it will threaten the Philippines' national security.

This was after the United States imposed sanctions and restrictions on at least 24 Chinese companies and associated officials for taking part in building artificial islands in disputed waters in the South China Sea. —KBK, GMA News