By Evelyn Macairan
MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will have the capability to repair its own ships once it receives a $4.7-million grant from the United States that would provide training on ship maintenance and repair.
The PCG will also receive from the US government fast boats that can travel at 45 knots and be used in the government’s campaign against illegal drugs and terrorists.
US Ambassador Sung Kim was welcomed by PCG officer-in-charge Commodore Joel Garcia when he visited the PCG headquarters at 9 a.m. yesterday.
In their hour-long meeting, Kim gave his commitment to fast-track the issuance of the $4.7-million grant that would be used to build an education and training facility to help build small boat engines.
Garcia said this would be useful to them since they have 300 aluminum boats with outboard engines.
More than receiving new equipment, the Coast Guard OIC said, “I would prefer education and training. It is a better investment. To me there is no amount of acquiring new equipment if we could not capacitate our personnel. In maritime security operations it’s man-machine interface, not just machine-machine.”
PCG spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the training of their personnel would be a long-term investment that would benefit their agency.
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