MANILA, Philippines—The United States is funding a new technical training center for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) worth P283 million ($5.5 million).
The training center will expand the PCG’s capability to deploy workforce adept at maintaining large patrol vessels up to 94 meters in length to improve the security of Philippine waters, the US Embassy in Manila said.
The PCG is one of the agencies tasked with overseeing the country’s vast territorial waters and exclusive economic zone.
Currently, its biggest ship is the 84-meter offshore patrol vessel BRP Gabriela Silang built by French company OCEA.
This year, the PCG is expecting the delivery of two 97-meter multi-role response vessels built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co.
A ribbon cutting and groundbreaking ceremony for the training center was held on Wednesday (Jan. 19) in Balagtas town, Bulacan province.
The event marked the completion and turnover of the training center’s student barracks and the start of construction of the main classroom and the hands-on laboratory training facility, the embassy said.