Manila Standard Today News

China’s 30-ship fleet was reportedly being escorted by a fisheries administration patrol ship and a 3,000-ton supply ship, enough provision for five to 10 days of fishing, according to a 'Manila Standard Today' news report. Locklear, who arrived Monday for a three-day visit,  met with President Benigno Aquino III at the Palace where they discussed “in broad strokes” China amid the rising tensions over territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said Locklear’s courtesy call on Mr. Aquino was meant to “reaffirm the long-standing partnership between Washington and Manila. “Admiral Locklear reiterated the commitment of the US to help the Philippines establish a minimum credible defense posture,” Lacierda said.

According to reports, a modern domestic shipbuilding facility will soon rise in this premier Freeport zone. Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Feliciano Salonga, in a meeting with National Maritime Leasing Corp. president Agustin Bengzon, said the facility would create a synergy aimed at supplying the needs of the domestic shipping industry. Salonga said the partnership and mutual cooperation of SBMA and National Maritime Leasing, a subsidiary of National Development Co., would focus on the acquisition of affordable but more efficient cargo and passenger ships by local shipping operators. Shipbuilding has been included in the government’s Investment Priority Plan.

Two men were seriously injured following an explosion that resulted in a fire in an inter-island oil tanker off Barangay Lamao in the Philippines, the Manila Standard Today reported. The victims were welder Jimmy Rebosa, 43, of Zambales, and pipe fitter Pedrito Parayday, 46, of Navotas City, who both suffered third-degree burns and were confined at the Isaac and Catalina Medical Center in Balanga City. The incident happened around on May 11 at 8:05 a.m. while the two victims were conducting repairs on m/t Daniela Natividad when the explosion occurred that triggered the fire. The oil tanker, with gross tonnage of 2800.14 and 22 crewmembers, had just delivered diesel fuel from the Bataan refinery of Petron.

Sailors were rescued off the English Channel in the United Kingdom after a chemical tanker collided with another vessel at dawn, the Manila Standard Today reported. 22 crewmembers were rescued by a British coastguard boat and a Royal Air Force (RAF) helicopter and then taken to St. Margaret’s Lodge, a hospital on the British island of Guernsey, according to reports by a RAF officer and Ambassador to London Edgardo Espiritu. The tanker Ece, which was carrying 10,000 tons of phosphoric acid, collided with a Maltese-registered cargo ship loaded with 26,000 tons of phosphorus. Divers were scheduled to inspect the hull of the chemical tanker, which was badly damaged, to assess pollution risks.