Repairs, Installation of Air Conditioning Units Ongoing inside BRP Sierra Madre

Navy personnel who are assigned inside the rusty outpost in Ayungin Shoal, the BRP Sierra Madre, may soon experience a little more comfort.

According to GMA News report this morning, the rusty but active on duty ship is undergoing repairs with the help of Filipino fishermen who uses wooden boats and small crafts to supply the needed construction materials like steel cables, welding machines, cement, and the like.

The report say, the hull and deck are undergoing repairs to prevent the ship from breaking apart. The welding is done at night because of heat.

The 100 meter-long (330-foot) tank landing ship was built for the U.S. Navy during World War Two. It was eventually transferred to the Philippine navy, which deliberately grounded it on Second Thomas Shoal (Ayungin Shoal) to mark Manila’s claim to the reef in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea. A team of 12 to 15 Philippine soldiers are stationed there to man the outpost.

Currently, the twelve soldiers who are stationed there are demolition experts, and are responsible for the ongoing silent repair.

The Department of national Defense (DND) said that the repair does not violate any international law because the facility is still commissioned, and the repairs are for the safety of the soldiers who are on active duty.

Any attack by a foreign country to an active military outpost like the BRP Sierra Madre is an act of war according to DND.

“We know China has been waiting for the ship to disintegrate but we are doing everything to hold it together,” said one of the officers, adding that while the work was progressing slowly, it should be finished by the year-end.

A Philippine general familiar with the repairs told Reuters the ship’s hull and deck were being strengthened, and air-conditioning units added.

“We are improving the living quarters inside, to make life for our soldiers more comfortable,” he said, declining to give further details about the repairs or be identified.

/Sarah Gomez/

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