One of the Philippine Navy's missile guided frigates sustained "superficial damage" during its bilateral training in Malaysia last week.

In a press conference in Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday, Philippine Navy spokesperson Capt. Marisa Arlene Martinez said BRP Antonio Luna was deployed to Malaysia to participate in "Malphi Laut" exercise" with the Royal Malaysian Navy.

During the drill "just after the harbor phase" BRP Antonio Luna "incurred superficial damage to its freeboard" while "carefully maneuvering in a narrow space" at the Royal Malaysian Navy base in the town of Lamut, Perak, Malaysia last Wednesday.

"It's minimal damage to the outermost surface of the ship, it's a port side. but I would just like to highlight that these are just one of the many risks, operational risks that a commanding officer or a ship would always incur whether you're a civilian ship or a merchant ship," she said.

"Immediately after that incident, the ship was multi, the ship was mission capable and was able to participate in all serials of the at-sea events. In fact, it is on its way home and I also would like to highlight that the people there are professional, they are very highly competent and the commanding officer himself is a seasoned surface warfare officer," she added.

However, Martinez noted that an investigation and assessment will be done once the ship returns to the country to check for possible liability on the incident.

"A group of technical people from the Philippine Navy will be conducting an assessment as soon as the ship comes back," she said.

"Usually, if there's an incident whether it's minor or major, there will always be an assessment and investigation that will be conducted. So... we'll just wait for the facts and the analysis," she added. Robina Asido/DMS