Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Arthur Tugade led the ground-breaking ceremony for the first ever K9 Academy in Southeast Asia which will be operated by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and the Philippine Ports Area (PPA) at a former American military base in Central Luzon.
During the event, the DOTr, PCG, and PPA have forged partnership with the Clark Development Corporation (CDC), which led to the actual commencement of construction of the academy’s facility.
Tugade shared that even before he became the country’s transportation chief, he aspired to create a K9 Academy “that would provide a wide array of benefits for all.”
“This is my dream and this is my mission . Today, we are gathered here, making this a day of celebration because we are now formally starting the construction of the academy,” Tudage said.
The PCG said the K9 Academy is set to cater at least 100 K9 force and 100 handlers in order to cater the needs of the government security forces.
The K9 Academy is capable to provide all qualities of training phases, techniques, and best practices to develop the skills and aptitude of the working dogs and their handlers.
It also aims to conduct research on working dogs’ pedigrees, their procurement and breeding, veterinary care, and maintenance of resources.
The academy is also inclusive of five organizations including the Canine Development Center, Canine School, Canine Breeding Center, Canine Hospital, and Kennel Management and Biosecurity.
The transportation secretary said that he will make the K9 Academy open for all the other branches of the government, whenever they need trained K9 working dogs.
“Tama lang na magkaroon tayo ng K9 Academy pagka’t napagusapan namin ni Commandant Admiral George Ursabia Jr. na hindi lang ililimit ‘yung mga mattrain na K9 sa pangangailangan ng PCG, ito ay iaalok at ipapagamit ko rin sa iba pang kagawaran, departamento, at ahensiya ng gobyerno (It is only right that we have a K9 Academy because we already talked this about with Commandant Admiral George Ursabia Jr. that not only the K9 will be train for the needs of the PCG, but it will also be offered and made available to other government departments, departments, and agencies),” he added.