By Priam Nepomuceno/PNA
MANILA — The Pohang-class corvette, donated by the South Korean government to the Philippine Navy (PN), will be named after Korean war hero Captain Conrado Yap.
This was confirmed by Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday morning.
“(The ship will be named after) Capt. Conrado Yap (who) was killed in the Korean War and Awarded the Medal of Valor,” he said in message to the Philippine News Agency.
Yap, a member of the 10th Battalion Combat Team, was killed in the Battle of Yultong in April 23, 1951 where he made a counter-attack to secure an exposed Filipino unit, led by Lt. Jose Artiaga, then being attacked by superior number of Chinese troops. Both officers were killed in the said battle.
He was also honored by the PN by naming an entire class of patrol craft after him in 1993 with the lead craft, the BRP Conrado Yap and 11 of her sister ships being decommissioned in 2018.
PN flag-officer-in-command, Vice Admiral Robert Empedrad, said the sailing crew of the “Pohang”-class corvette will be flying to South Korea to start training on the systems of the above-mentioned ship which classified as an anti-submarine vessel.
The craft is expected to arrive in the Philippines by March or April, he added.
Lorenzana clarified that a beaching ramp, not a harbor, is now being constructed in Pagasa Island at the Kalayaan Island Group.
“No, we are not. We are just building a beaching ramp. Later, we will also build a fishermen’s shelter where they can have sanctuary during inclement weather,” the DND chief said when asked if there are plans to build a harbor in the area.
