And the Minister also provided a slight update on the Sarstoon FOB, which had been vacated by the BDF soldiers for over a year due to erosion. And while they still maintain a presence in the area, it is vulnerable at night when they leave. However, Marin says it's not so easy as just a couple repairs and they need to wait for the engineers' go-ahead.
Florencio Marin Jr., Minister of Defense
"We right now speaking with engineers to finalize the plan because I don't know if you guys have been there that that's not grown like here that's really a muddy another. So we just can't put any structure there and where's any structure that's going to endanger the lives of our soldiers."
"So it's a challenging thing. We're having the engineers who are telling us when they tell us we're ready to go we're going to move. And yes it is a priority for us. General Loria and Admiral Bennett are both adamant and it is an essential base that we must be manning for as part of our national security."
