Looks like he already has a plan for de-cluttering.
After meeting former police chiefs of Davao City Police Office (DCPO) at the Hotel Elena in Davao City on Sun, May 15, incoming President and outgoing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte announced that he plans to sell the presidential yacht, BRP Ang Pangulo.
“Duterte said proceeds from the sale of the yacht will go to war veterans, improvement of hospital facilities, and salaries for doctors so they would not have to leave the country for higher-paying jobs,” reports ABS-CBN News.
The Official Gazette features the history of the yacht, which we are reposting below:
What is now known as the BRP Ang Pangulo was obtained during the administration of Carlos P. Garcia as part of the war reparations given to the Philippines by Japan. It was built at the Ishikawajima dry-docks in Tokyo, and was known then as Bow No. 77.
President Carlos P. Garcia designated it as the flagship of the Philippine Navy on February 14, 1959 and brought it to the Philippines on February 28, 1959. It was first named the RPS Lapu-Lapu, commissioned on on March 7, 1959. The ship joined the Philippine Fleet in Manila on April 2, 1959.
President Macapagal, on December 31, 1961, removed it as the flagship of the Philippine Navy. On October 9, 1962, the ship was renamed RPS Roxas, the first ship to be named in honor of a Philippine president.
The ship was again renamed during the Marcos administration as RPS The President. It saw the most number of engagements during this administration. Reportedly the site of many lavish parties of the Marcos family, it served as a venue for entertaining VIP guests. Among the notable guests that the Marcoses entertained in the ship were British ballerina Margot Fonteyn, actress Brooke Shields, dancer Rudolf Nureyev, concert pianist Van Cliburn, and Cristina Ford, former wife of Henry Ford II, who was once chairman of Ford Motor Co.
On January 11, 1967, President Marcos again renamed the ship, now christening it as the BRP Ang Pangulo. The Marcos administration also created a seal for the presidential yacht.
After the 1986 EDSA Revolution, President Cory Aquino tried to do away with all the lavishness and extravagance of the previous administration. The ship was also costing the government P400,000 a month simply to maintain it. On September of 1986, the President put the ship up for sale for $5.5 million, but it was not sold.
President Fidel V. Ramos, during his term, entertained Chinese President Jiang Zeminin on this yacht.
When President Joseph Estrada took office, he had the yacht extensively refurbished. The ship served as a venue for presidential events and as a mobile office for the president.
In 2006, the presidential yacht caught on fire while it was undergoing repairs in a Batangas port. The ship reportedly incurred only minor damage. After refurbishing and repair, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, on March 6, 2009, again changed the name of the yacht to the BRP Pag-Asa.
President Benigno S. Aquino III rechristened the presidential yacht with its old name, the BRP Ang Pangulo. Aquino said this ship would augment the capabilities of the Philippine Navy.
On December 7, 2011, the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, in enforcing its mandate to ensure consistency in the implementation of the corporate identity of the Executive Department, submitted to the Presidential Museum and Library, which has curatorial control of the presidential yacht by virtue of Executive Order No. 880, s. 2010, a new design of the seal of the BRP Ang Pangulo.
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