Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Jaime J. Bautista is seeking an additional budget to pave the way to the hiring of additional 4,000 personnel for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) within this year.
The hiring of more personnel, according to Bautista, is part of the modernization for the PCG which is now actively involved in the patrol and maritime law enforcement activities, especially in the West Philippine Sea.
“We are working closely with the Philippine Coast Guard to modernize its resources to meet its mission. We’re helping them to increase the number of personnel. [They are] now more than 30,000 and we’re looking at hiring 4,000 more within the year,” said Bautista.
He explained that the hiring of additional personnel for the PCG will enable the agency to deploy one personnel per kilometer of the country’s coastline.
Aside from additional personnel, the DOTr is also in a buying spree of both floating and aerial assets to maximize the patrolling in the Philippine waters and eventually monitor and guard the country’s territory.
“We just had approval to purchase five 97-meter MRRVs. We already signed the loan agreement with JICA on this. It’s already in the procurement process,” said Bautista.
“We need more helicopters and 35-meter fast patrol vessels to support the mission of the PCG not only in the West Philippine Sea but also in other shores of the country,” he added.