In a dramatic turn of events ahead of one of the most closely watched joint military exercises in Southeast Asia, a decommissioned Philippine Navy warship slated for destruction during a live-fire drill sank prematurely in contested waters of the South China Sea. The vessel, BRP Miguel Malvar (PS-19), an 80-year-old relic of World War II, foundered and slipped beneath the waves just hours before it was to serve as a symbolic target in the high-stakes Balikatan exercises with U.S. forces.
The incident occurred in choppy seas approximately 30 nautical miles west of San Antonio, Zambales, near the volatile Scarborough Shoal—an area heavily contested between the Philippines and China. It happened mere hours before the scheduled joint maritime strike, prompting both logistical adjustments and diplomatic unease.
At 7:20 a.m. on Monday, the ship began taking on water while being towed into position, eventually succumbing to the elements just four nautical miles short of its designated location.
“The decommissioned vessel, BRP Miguel Malvar, began to flood while it was being positioned roughly 30 nautical miles west of San Antonio, Zambales, before sinking at 7:20 a.m.,” confirmed Philippine Navy spokesperson Capt. John Percie Alcos during a press conference at Naval Station Jose Andrada in Manila. “Fortunately, there were no personnel onboard, and no casualties occurred.”
While the live-fire mission involving the BRP Miguel Malvar was subsequently aborted, Balikatan forces quickly pivoted to alternative training scenarios in nearby waters, ensuring the continuity of the annual military drills. Yet the symbolic weight of the ship’s sinking lingers over an exercise meant to project strength, coordination, and deterrence in a region marked by rising tensions and strategic ambiguity.
To most Filipinos and naval historians, the BRP Miguel Malvar was more than an aging hull—it was a floating testament to a complex military lineage spanning three navies and nearly 80 years of turbulent regional history.
Originally commissioned in 1944 as the USS Brattleboro (PCE(R)-852) by the United States Navy, the ship saw action in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters during World War II. It supported combat operations in Okinawa and the Philippines, surviving enemy fire and the hazards of war with distinction.
After its U.S. Navy service, the vessel was transferred to the South Vietnamese Navy in 1966 and renamed RVNS Ngọc Hồi (HQ-12). It was among the flotilla that fled to the Philippines at the fall of Saigon in April 1975. On April 5, 1976, it was formally absorbed into the Philippine Navy and rechristened RPS Miguel Malvar, later updated to BRP Miguel Malvar (PS-19) in line with modern naming conventions.
Its Philippine service record includes humanitarian relief operations, maritime patrols, and participation in multiple bilateral exercises, including CARAT 2012 with U.S. forces. The ship earned a reputation for reliability, despite its antiquated systems and diminishing operational value.
By the time of its formal decommissioning on December 10, 2021, the BRP Miguel Malvar had become the oldest active warship in Southeast Asia—a distinction both celebrated and lamented. Defense officials acknowledged that the ship had long exceeded its intended lifespan and could no longer meet the demands of modern maritime operations.
“It’s an 80-year-old, deteriorated vessel that simply couldn’t withstand the heavy seas,” Lt. Col. John Paul Salgado told the Associated Press, echoing a sentiment long understood within defense circles.
The selection of the Miguel Malvar for live-fire termination was both practical and symbolic. As part of the Balikatan 2025 exercises, the ship was to serve as the designated target for a joint precision strike involving U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornets, Filipino shore-based missiles, and naval autocannon fire—a powerful demonstration of interoperability and joint lethality.
According to the Philippine News Agency, the planned attack was a multi-domain operation designed to replicate real-world anti-ship combat scenarios. It was to involve both aerial bombardment and surface strikes, integrating U.S. and Philippine offensive platforms in a display meant to impress observers and deter adversaries.
The exercise was to be conducted near Scarborough Shoal, a maritime flashpoint where the Philippines’ claims—based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS)—directly collide with China’s expansive “nine-dash line” assertion.
Located roughly 137 nautical miles from the Philippine coastline and well within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), Scarborough Shoal has been a source of chronic diplomatic friction. Although the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in 2016 that China’s claims have no legal basis, Beijing has continued to enforce control through coast guard patrols, maritime militia operations, and radar installations.
That the ill-fated warship was meant to be sunk in such a fraught location underscores the geopolitical theater of Balikatan, where training missions are carefully choreographed to send strategic signals.
Balikatan, which means “shoulder-to-shoulder” in Filipino, is more than just a military drill. It is the largest and most visible pillar of the U.S.-Philippine defense alliance, designed to bolster interoperability, demonstrate commitment, and deter threats from state and non-state actors alike.
Balikatan 2025 involves more than 17,000 troops, multiple joint training environments across the Philippine archipelago, and a spectrum of missions ranging from amphibious landings to cyber defense and humanitarian assistance.
Yet this year’s iteration arrives against a backdrop of mounting regional instability:
- In recent months, Chinese vessels have repeatedly harassed Philippine resupply missions to Second Thomas Shoal.
- Philippine fishing boats have reported confrontations with Chinese maritime militia in the waters surrounding Scarborough Shoal.
- The Philippine Coast Guard has increased patrols and released unfiltered video footage of Chinese maneuvers, aiming to internationalize what it calls “gray zone coercion.”
For the United States, Balikatan is a reaffirmation of its Mutual Defense Treaty obligations under the 1951 bilateral pact with the Philippines. It also aligns with Washington’s broader Indo-Pacific Strategy, which emphasizes freedom of navigation, defense of rules-based order, and resistance to Chinese territorial encroachment.
U.S. Navy officials stated that while the loss of BRP Miguel Malvar altered one portion of the plan, the exercise’s objectives remain intact.
“We adapt. That’s the nature of combat training,” said Lt. Commander Rachel Yates, a spokesperson for the U.S. 7th Fleet. “What matters is that we continue building readiness and capability together with our allies.”
The premature sinking of the BRP Miguel Malvar may not have caused any physical casualties, but its symbolic ripples are being felt across military and political domains.
Within defense circles, the event has triggered renewed scrutiny of the Philippine Navy’s aging fleet, many of which are still composed of Cold War-era hand-me-downs. Despite recent acquisitions—including Jose Rizal-class guided missile frigates and talks of submarine procurement—the navy remains stretched in capabilities and presence.
More troubling is the broader signal the incident may send to adversaries.
“When your target sinks before you can hit it, that’s a metaphor you don’t want on the world stage,” said maritime security expert Dr. Renato De Castro of De La Salle University. “Even if unintended, it feeds narratives of fragility.”
Yet some defense officials argue the incident also underscores the urgency of military modernization and supports the case for increased defense funding, joint capacity-building, and arms procurement.
Already, the Philippine government is ramping up participation in new regional defense partnerships, including trilateral maritime patrols with Japan and the United States, as well as expanding access agreements under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
Unsurprisingly, Beijing has yet to comment on the sinking of the BRP Miguel Malvar. But Chinese analysts online and on state-aligned platforms have noted the incident, often with thinly veiled mockery or warnings against “military provocations” near Chinese-claimed waters.
China has long viewed the Balikatan exercises as provocative, accusing the United States of militarizing regional disputes. The use of live-fire drills near Scarborough Shoal—particularly those involving symbolic wartime relics—adds a psychological layer to already tense maritime dynamics.
What’s clear is that both Manila and Washington are increasingly aligned in confronting coercion in the South China Sea, even as they walk a tightrope between deterrence and escalation.
The BRP Miguel Malvar’s sudden plunge beneath contested waters may be seen not just as a logistical mishap, but as an unintended metaphor for a nation—and a region—grappling with its past, its vulnerabilities, and its fight for sovereignty.
A warship once forged in America, reborn in Vietnam, and long sustained by Filipino hands, now rests in a seabed clouded by ambition and dispute. It carried the weight of history, and in its sinking, may have added yet another chapter to the story of the South China Sea.
