PCG, patuloy sa modernization ng kanilang mga asset and equipment
PCG, patuloy sa modernization ng kanilang mga asset and equipment
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00:00 We will have an update on the modernization program and capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard
00:05 with the spokesperson of PCG, Rear Admiral Arman Balilo.
00:10 Good afternoon, sir.
00:11 Good afternoon, Ms. Efue, Nina. Good to see you both.
00:15 Good to see you again, sir.
00:17 It's been a while.
00:18 A long while?
00:19 A long time.
00:20 Sir, let's go straight to the update on the modernization plans for the Philippine Coast Guard.
00:26 What are your priority programs for now?
00:29 Well, first of all, we are thankful to President Marcos and the Congress
00:34 because if you remember the last budget deliberation,
00:38 you saw the support that our lawmakers made
00:42 to improve the capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard.
00:46 In the past, a lot has happened to the Philippine Coast Guard.
00:50 I know you are witnesses to that because you used to go to the Coast Guard.
00:54 We had a small number of ships but in the past, we have new ships,
01:00 we have helicopters that can be used to fulfill our mandate.
01:06 We are able, we are capable, and we are able to fulfill our mandate
01:10 but we still need additional assets like ships.
01:14 We need more piers, we need more advanced technology like drones
01:22 to make our patrol operations easier.
01:25 And that is what the Philippine Coast Guard is focusing on.
01:28 Just to give context, sir, the Philippines has one of the largest coastlines in the world.
01:36 How many of us are there?
01:38 We are the second or third.
01:39 I think we are the third, Indonesia and if I'm not mistaken, Canada is the other one.
01:45 Yes, Canada. I heard Russia.
01:47 Russia is also large, 37,000 kilometers of coastline.
01:53 And that is what we are thankful for.
01:55 In 2016, we were only 8,500 but in the early 2000s, when you were in the Coast Guard,
02:03 we were only 3,000.
02:05 So we were 8,500 in 2016 but now we are 30,000.
02:10 And we are still requesting for additional manpower to fulfill our duty.
02:16 We have a porous border.
02:18 We are open to everyone.
02:21 Anyone can enter if they are doing something bad.
02:24 So we need to have more assets, more people who can guard our borders.
02:31 Yes, imagine, we are in the top 5 largest or top 3 in the world.
02:37 In the smallest of the Philippines but the largest coastline.
02:41 So we really need to modernize and strengthen the Philippine Coast Guard.
02:46 When it comes to maritime enforcement, what are the steps of PCG for infrastructure development?
02:55 Where are we in this discussion?
02:57 Well, our infrastructure development is continuous when it comes to maritime law enforcement.
03:04 Like what I was saying earlier, our assets, especially floating assets,
03:12 are what we need to enforce our maritime laws.
03:21 And of course, we at the Philippine Coast Guard, we also invested our human resources.
03:28 We believe that in the modernization of an organization, the level of our people should be elevated.
03:40 Properly equipped, properly trained to conduct the mission of the organization.
03:46 Sir, do we have an update on the purchase of offshore patrol vessels and air defense assets?
03:52 Our plans are ongoing. We have plans to buy follow-up orders in Japan
04:01 to have offshore patrol vessels.
04:04 We also have a winnowing work out with France.
04:08 Because one of the Philippine Coast Guard's big ships and the other 5 small ships are from France.
04:14 We are also working on that.
04:16 Hopefully, it will get attention and we will be able to use those ships.
04:21 So, for now, how many offshore patrol vessels does the Coast Guard need based on your assessment?
04:27 Including manpower?
04:28 There are many.
04:29 We should have additional offshore patrol vessels.
04:34 First, we should have additional 3 more.
04:38 And eventually, we should have offshore patrol vessels in each district of the Philippine Coast Guard in the future.
04:45 As for manpower, we should have 30,000 now. We said that we should have at least 40,000 within a few years
04:54 that are left in the term of President Marcos so that we can meet our mandates.
05:02 If I may say, from maritime security, we have law enforcement.
05:06 If there is an oil spill, we also have an oil spill response that we are doing.
05:11 And after that, if there is a storm, we will stop you from going to Boracay,
05:18 if you cross the islands and the Philippine Coast Guard is found, we will still work on that.
05:24 So, will you be equal to the number of the Philippine Navy personnel?
05:29 What will be the difference?
05:31 In AFP, if we are not equal, we will just have a modest number.
05:36 For us, if there are missions that we need to do, especially the challenges in the West Philippine Sea,
05:43 let's remember that we still have the Southern Back Door, we still have problems in the Eastern Seaboard,
05:49 we are also involved in drugs, we are also involved in human slag, smuggling, anti-terrorism.
05:54 All of these are being handled by the Philippine Coast Guard.
05:57 So, our request is to look at the Philippine Coast Guard, our capability development, so that we can perform well.
06:08 Speaking of capability development and manpower, when it comes to training facilities of PCG,
06:18 what are we doing about this?
06:21 Is the training of your PCG personnel still ongoing?
06:27 Yes, it is still ongoing.
06:28 First of all, the recruitment of the Philippine Coast Guard personnel is still ongoing.
06:32 Just recently, President Marcos approved the 4,000 and we have already recruited them.
06:37 And there are already scheduled trainings being done in various regional training centers of the Philippine Coast Guard.
06:45 They are located in districts in Mindanao, Visayas, and in Luzon.
06:51 After the basic training, they will specialize and will be assigned to the regional districts of the Philippine Coast Guard.
06:58 We also have trainings being done in other countries.
07:02 Our cadets are also being sent to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in America, Japan,
07:08 and we also have training for soldiers or for the basic specialized cadets that are also being done in various parts of the world.
07:18 Sir, what are your requirements?
07:20 There might be others who want to join the Philippine Coast Guard.
07:23 What are the requirements?
07:24 Do you need a certain number of units if you are not yet a graduate of college or you should be a college graduate?
07:29 What are the requirements?
07:30 You should have 72 units if you are a non-officer or the enlisted personnel that is equivalent to the armed forces of the Philippines.
07:39 But for us, we have a requirement that if you are not yet a graduate of college and you will apply as a non-officer of the Philippine Coast Guard,
07:48 you should have a civil service eligibility.
07:51 You should have 72 units or if you do not have one, you should have NC2.
07:55 This is the certificate that TESDA gives for special skills.
07:59 Now, if you are an officer, you should have a board pass or you should have a civil service eligibility.
08:04 But if you are a college graduate?
08:06 College graduate should have a civil service eligibility for the officers.
08:09 Now, if you are a non-officer, you should have a civil service eligibility.
08:14 Okay, sir. Aside from what you have mentioned, what are the programs or activities of PCG to further enhance the capabilities
08:21 and to improve the quality of your equipment and assets?
08:25 Well, we are continuing to develop our culture, ways of doing things,
08:30 and we believe that the character of an organization should be seen by its people
08:38 and the direction should be clear that will be followed by a member of the Philippine Coast Guard.
08:45 So that when we are given a job, we know how we will compass it together and how we will accomplish our duties.
08:53 Okay, before we let our dear Admiral Balilo go,
08:59 sir, what are the challenges for you in investigating what happened to our fishermen
09:08 in what you are saying is now in Bandang, Pangasinan, which is in Wipo because of the flood that happened.
09:16 The President has instructions on what all should be done to answer the liability here.
09:23 But first, we should finish our investigation.
09:27 We should pinpoint the vessel that was in an accident here in Bangka.
09:32 And after that, we should prove that there was negligence that happened.
09:37 And from there, we can talk to the foreign affairs to represent us to talk about where the vessel was registered
09:49 and the crew and maybe there we can file a case.
09:53 This will be difficult because this happened in the high seas and the people are from different countries
10:00 and the vessel is from a different country also.
10:03 But we will do whatever is necessary. We will coordinate well with the port state control of other countries.
10:09 What is important here is to show our countrymen that we did not neglect them
10:14 and we will do our best to recover our countrymen from the damage that the vessel did.
10:22 Sir, has there been an incident like that before where the accident was really responsible to our countrymen?
10:27 In 2013, there was also an accident where a vessel was hit outside of our territorial waters.
10:39 But it was a very difficult process to do that.
10:44 But I know that there was a compromise made.
10:48 But if we can talk to them, we can catch them.
10:52 It's going to be an arduous task but we have to try and we have to do our best to our countrymen.
10:58 What is your learning experience here for the fishermen who are aware that there are many vessels passing through here?
11:08 As Com. Tariella said earlier, should our small fishermen really go there?
11:14 Well, we should be observant even if it's an accident or an incident that we cannot avoid.
11:24 But we should be careful.
11:26 And when the investigation comes out, we can make a recommendation to our fishermen
11:34 if we can advise them to avoid high maritime traffic.
11:41 Okay. We have a question from Tuesday New of DZBB.
11:48 How did you manage to cash your Intel Funds in the length or size of the coastline that you are watching?
11:57 Will you ask for an additional Intel Fund?
12:00 The question from Tuesday, we used to say that we only have 10 million Intel Funds every year for so many years.
12:10 We manage the resources properly.
12:14 If there is a problem, we channel it.
12:17 But we don't, you know, how do you say that, we really need it.
12:24 We need it to fulfill our duties.
12:29 We are doing maritime security operations, law enforcement activities, not only in the West Philippine Sea.
12:36 I told you that we should be observant.
12:39 We need the Intel Funds to upgrade our system, to improve our human intelligence.
12:45 We need to improve our gadgets, our technology,
12:49 so that we can improve our surveillance, our measures in managing and collecting information.
12:59 Definitely, we are not yet hypocritical that we don't need it.
13:06 We really need it.
13:07 And if you really want to see the results,
13:12 there should be an investment in the organization and the Intel Fund will be a big deal.
13:19 And you are not just buying gadgets, you also need to maintain them.
13:24 You need to fix the old gadgets.
13:29 You are not going to buy them one time, big time.
13:32 You are right, Ms. Queng.
13:33 We have an assurance that we will account to the Filipino people
13:38 and we will show them where to use it.
13:42 We will use it properly and we will bring it to the right mission.
13:47 Okay.
13:48 Maybe you can message our fellow Filipinos before we say goodbye.
13:53 Well, you saw what the Philippine Coast Guard is doing to you.
13:58 Whatever mandate that we are assigned, what we bring to the table right now,
14:03 in national security, in national development,
14:08 that is all because of the support of the government.
14:11 And you can count on us that we will do our duty.
14:14 Thank you very much for joining us today.
14:17 We are Admiral Armand Balilo, the spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard.