Mexican training ship visits PH Aug 4-8

The PN spokesperson said the visit also commemorates the historic voyage by the Manila-Acapulco Galleon for almost 250 years. (PNA photo)

MANILA, Aug. 2 — Mexican training ship, the ARM Cuauhtémoc (Ambassador and Knight of the Seas), will arrive Friday, Aug 4, for a five-day goodwill visit to the Philippines.

Philippine Navy (PN) spokesperson Capt. Lued Lincuna said the Mexican ship will dock at Pier 15 of the Manila South Harbor.

PN units will render the traditional welcoming ceremonies upon her arrival.

“This first time visit of a Mexican Navy vessel coincides with the 35th anniversary of the said ship and the centenary of the promulgation of the Mexican Constitution. Along with its officer and enlisted crew headed by the Commanding Officer, Capt. Rafael Lagunes Arteaga, onboard are around 40 cadets from the Heroic Navy Military School of Mexico,” Lincuna stressed.

The PN spokesperson said the visit also commemorates the historic voyage by the Manila-Acapulco Galleon for almost 250 years.

ARM Cuauhtémoc will leaving on Aug 8, he added.

The former is a sail training vessel of the Mexican Navy, named for the last Mexica Hueyi Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc who was captured and executed in 1525.

She is the last of four sister ships built by the Naval Shipyards of Bilbao, Spain, in 1982, all built to a design similar to the 1930 designs of the German firm Blohm & Voss, like Gorch Fock, USCGC Eagle and the NRP Sagres.

The former’s visit attests the renewed long-standing ties that join Mexico and the Philippines together, not only as partners but as sister nations. (Priam F. Nepomuceno/Kathryn Villamayor/PNA)