The Philippine Army continues to boost its capabilities as it inaugurated a new molecular laboratory intended for its fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and unveiled newly-acquired scout and assault boats for sea mobility, it said on Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Gilbert Gapay, Army chief, led the joint ribbon-cutting and blessing ceremonies of the new laboratory at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City on Tuesday.
According to Gapay, the molecular laboratory aims to provide "quality and accurate health care services related to emerging infectious diseases" to Army personnel, military dependents, civilian human resource, and other authorized civilians.
"We deem it necessary to set up this testing facility so we could preserve our force," Gapay said.
"With 12,000 Army personnel currently involved in COVID-19 response operations and more committed to security operations, we want to take care of our own so we could focus on accomplishing various critical missions," he added.
The new laboratory is currently awaiting accreditation from the Department of Health to be operational but Gapay noted that it can process 90 samples per day.
He said the laboratory will receive swab samples collected and delivered by the requesting individual or institution before it performs the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) COVID-19 testing process.
Meanwhile, Gapay said the new boats acquired by the Army are intended to augment its existing water navigation mobility assets in patrol and troop insertion operations.
The boats will also boost the counter-terrorism and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR) operations of the Army, especially in priority areas in Mindanao, he added.
"Our pursuit for modernization will ensure that the Army is capable of facing various threats in the security environment and when we perform our non-traditional military roles during disasters," Gapay emphasized.
Maj. Gen. Rowen Tolentino, Army chief of staff, spearheaded the blessing of the newly-acquired boats.
During the blessing ceremony, a single boat was put on display but a total of 52 boats are earmarked for the Army's acquisition. The Army did not specify the amount of the acquisition.
Each boat can load at least eight individuals in full battle gear and has a minimum speed of 25 knots.
The boats were turned over to the Special Forces Regiment (Airborne) under the command of Brig. Gen. Lincoln Francisco Tagle.