The Philippine national government confirmed to the media, that the Philippine troops was repairing a crumbling ship, the Word War II-vintage BRP Sierra Madre to ensure that the ship remains livable for a tiny unit of Filipino Marines guarding the hotly disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Philippine Navy spokesman Colonel Edgardo Arevalo was quoted as saying “Maintenance repair is being done to ensure the vessel’s minimum habitability. We are morally and duty-bound to provide for our troops there,” the Philippine Navy stated.
During the year 1999, the Philippine Military deliberately grounded the 100-meter (328-foot) vessel atop the reefs in the last-ditch effort to check the advance of China in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, which four years earlier occupied the Philippine-claimed Mischief Reef some 40 kilometers (25 miles) away.
The disputed outcrops are located around 200 kilometers from the western Philippine island of Palawan and roughly 1,100 kilometers from the nearest major Chinese land mass.
The national government through the Philippine Navy rotates a group of around nine marines aboard the tank landing ship, which first saw service for the United States Navy in World War II. The BRP Sierra Madre was acquired by the Philippine Navy in the 1970’s.