THE US Navy plans to build two repair facilities for smaller vessels operating in the western Philippines, the US Embassy said Wednesday, with one about 240 kilometers (km) east of a fiercely contested reef in the South China Sea.
Located in the Spratly archipelago, the Second Thomas Shoal hosts a small detachment of Philippine forces aboard a grounded navy vessel and has been the site of clashes with Chinese ships.
Beijing claims almost the entirety of the crucial waterway despite an international ruling its assertion has no merit.
OYSTER BAY This photo taken on June 7, 2025, shows a general view of Oyster Bay naval facility in Palawan province, west of Manila. PHOTO BY AFP
The US government’s contracting website, Sam.gov, locates one of the proposed repair facilities in Palawan province’s Quezon municipality.
The facilities “will provide repair and maintenance capabilities for a variety of [Philippine] vessels including 7.32-meter (24-foot) watercraft 2 as well as other smaller conventional watercraft,” the bid notice for the Quezon project reads.
The Philippines owns several vessels that size, including rigid-hull inflatable boats (RHIBs), that have been involved in clashes with larger Chinese ships.
While there are not believed to be existing permanent military facilities in Quezon, the area has hosted parts of joint US-Philippine military exercises for the past two years.
The US Embassy in Manila confirmed on Wednesday the tender for both the Quezon project and a similar one to be constructed at the Philippines’ existing Oyster Bay naval facility about 130 km north.
The embassy said the US Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command issued a public solicitation for the design and construction of the maintenance facility on July 7.
“The facility will provide repair and maintenance capabilities for several small Philippine military watercraft,” the statement said. The maintenance facility will also include two multipurpose interior rooms that will be used as an equipment storage or for conference use.
The embassy clarified that the facility is not a US military base, and has already been approved by the Philippine government in accordance with all local rules and regulations of both countries.
“Our US-Philippine alliance with its roots in the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty remains a cornerstone of peace and security, promoting our common vision for a free, open and resilient Indo-Pacific,” the embassy said.
“All of our military activities in the Philippines are done in full coordination with our Philippine allies,” it added.
Officials from the Department of National Defense did not immediately provide comment.
Retired Philippine admiral Rommel Jude Ong, now a military analyst with the Ateneo de Manila University, said such facilities could be used “for RHIBs, but more likely for smaller rubber boats used in the resupply of occupied features.”
The Philippines and the United States have deepened their defense cooperation since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022 and began pushing back on Beijing’s sweeping South China Sea claims.
China asserts its claim to nearly the entire South China Sea under its “nine-dash line” which includes areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which have been renamed by the government as the West Philippine Sea.
In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favor of the Philippines, declaring China’s nine-dash line invalid. However, China rejected the ruling, escalating tensions further.
The West Philippine Sea is a maritime area along the western side of the Philippine archipelago which is within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile EEZ.
