Philippine Coast Guard Assistance

The Philippine Coast Guard is set to receive assistance from the United States in the form of $100,000 worth of equipment and training.

PHL Coast Guard to receive equipment, training from US

The Philippine Coast Guard is set to receive assistance from the United States in the form of $100,000 worth of equipment and training in order for it to improve its ability to secure the country’s borders, prevent the entry of weapons of mass destruction, and ensure maritime security within its territories.

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’ Affaires Leslie Bassett will turn over the equipment — among them portable hand-held radios, headsets, carry cases, back-up batteries, control station antennas, and a multipurpose tent — to the Coast Guard on January 30.

The US will also conduct training exercises to Coast Guard officers that will consist of classroom instruction and practical exercises on border security.

Bassett will officially open the advanced boarding course for the Coast Guard officers after the turnover ceremony.

According to the US Embassy in Manila, the equipment donation and training are funded by the US Department of State Export Control and Related Border Security Program.

The Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance program is the US government’s premier initiative to help other countries improve their export control systems.

Such assistance is expected to strengthen the Philippines’ ability to monitor its porous borders and ward off potential foreign incursions, particularly in its claimed territories in the resource-rich West Philippine Sea (also South China Sea), where Manila, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims. — KBK, GMA News