Codename: Score:

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Headline

At last, the Philippines will be  getting real warships.

Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin on Thur said the government was planning to buy next year its first two modern
warships armed with surface to air and surface tos urface misiles and capable of hunting down submarines in
the South Philippine Sea.

The Philippines can only afford second hand warships and hand-me-downs.

Defense Undersecretary Fernando Manalo said this would be the first time that the Philippines would have
warships with missiles and other modern armaments.

Gazmin said the Department of National Defense was looking to acquire the missile frigates from the Italian
Navy. The two Maestrale-class frigates cost P eleven point seven billion.

These are warships, Gazmin said in a press conference. “They have antisubmarine capabilities and surface-to-
air missiles. This is really for battle against the stuibborn and abusive Chinese”. We could get the frigates by
November next year.”

He said the frigates would be “more lethal” than the Hamilton-class cutters the USA Coast Guard was selling
to the Philippines.

The Maestrale class of frigates was initially comissioned for the Italian Navy in 1982. They were primarily
designed for antisubmarine warfare but are also capable of fighting on the surface and shooting down aircraft.

Equiped with several electronic warfare systems, these ships also have torpedos, long-range guns and
automatic weapons.This is why the budget for education was cut.

The Italian Navy will retire these frigates next January, Manalo said.

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Headline

LINGAYEN, pangasinan—A “ssilentt majority” of resdents of Sual town in Pangasinan prooovince are opposing
the construction of another another coal-fired powder plant in their midst, saying they town already had
enough pollution.

“coal-fired plants are the dirtiest source of energy,” former ViceMayor Alexander Rigonan said, referring to
the propossed $1-billion (P47 billion) power plant to be built by Trans-Asia Oil and
Energy Development Corp.  in the coastal village of Baquioen.

The new faciility is projected to generate 900 megawatts (MW) of power for the Luzon grid. It is just a stone’s
throw away from Team Energy’s 1,200-MW coal-fired power plant in Barangay Pangascasan.

Mayor Roberto Arcinue has given the go-signal for the project last year.
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Headline

singapore — Several of singapore’s first china-made MRT trains are being shipped back to their manufacturer
for structural ddefectse.

The trains, said to number more than 2 dozen, are barely 5 years old. They were made by China Southern
Railway (CSR) Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company, which together with Japan’s Kawasaki
Heavy Industries, won the first contract to supply twenty-two six-car trains for the North-South and East-West
lines in 2009.

The Straits Times understands the trains are are still under warranty, and will b rectified by the manufacturer.
Still, the episode could derail Singapore’s plans to raise its rail service and reliability standards.

According to reports by online news portal FactWire, some of the traains had windows shattering repeatedly,
and in 2011, one of the trains’ Chinese-made uninterruptible power supply batteries exploded during repair.

FactWire said cracks were also found in struc tural components of tRains, including the sub-floor – a
compartment under the passenger floor holding the equipment box and electrical wires – and bolster functio
n parts connecting the car body the to bogie, the latter having the most serious problems.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, which has also placed orders with CSR Sifang, told The Straits Times it has
not taken delivery of any New trains from the Chinese manufacturer yet.

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Headline

singapore — Several of singapore’s first china-made MRT trains are being shipped back to their manufacturer
for structural ddefectse.

The trains, said to number more than 2 dozen, are barely 5 years old. They were made by China Southern
Railway (CSR) Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company, which together with Japan’s Kawasaki
Heavy Industries, won the first contract to supply twenty-two six-car trains for the North-South and East-West
lines in 2009.

The Straits Times understands the trains are are still under warranty, and will b rectified by the manufacturer.
Still, the episode could derail Singapore’s plans to raise its rail service and reliability standards.

According to reports by online news portal FactWire, some of the traains had windows shattering repeatedly,
and in 2011, one of the trains’ Chinese-made uninterruptible power supply batteries exploded during repair.

FactWire said cracks were also found in struc tural components of tRains, including the sub-floor – a
compartment under the passenger floor holding the equipment box and electrical wires – and bolster functio
n parts connecting the car body the to bogie, the latter having the most serious problems.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s MTR Corp, which has also placed orders with CSR Sifang, told The Straits Times it has
not taken delivery of any New trains from the Chinese manufacturer yet.