Coast Guard eyeing Guimaras station
The Philippine Coast Guard is planning to put up a station in Guimaras province to monitor the activities of motorboats transporting passengers from the island-province to Pulupandan in Negros Occidental.
PCG Western Visayas Commodore Athelo Ybañez said at present, the port of Guimaras is still under the Coast Guard Station of Iloilo and there are only five Coast Guard stations in the region that has six coastal provinces.
A station based in Guimaras could improve their services as they could closely safeguard the passengers and clear the sea vessels for travel, he said.
Ybañez said PCG is now looking for a site where they could possibly put up the station in Guimaras by next year.
On Alert
Meanwhile, Ybañez said the Coast Guard is on alert and ready to thwart any terroristic activity in Western Visayas.
Police units in Western Visayas had earlier stepped up security measures following the reported imminent threat in the country.
Countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia issued separate travel advisories, warning their nationals to exercise a high degree of caution in the Philippines because of the high threat of terrorist attack.
Ybañez said sea marshals clear the ships and boats anchoring in all ports in the region.
“The Coast Guard is always ready to deal with any terroristic activity,” he said.
He also said they have already 14 K-9 dogs that have the capability to sniff the explosives that might be used by terrorists.
The K-9 dogs are being assigned in the ports of Caticlan where there are roll-on-roll-off vessels plying Batangas to Mindoro to Caticlan and vice versa.
The Caticlan port is important because the passengers taking the Roro vessels are mostly tourists bound for the nearby Boracay island, the premiere tourism destination in Western Visayas.
Other K-9 dogs are in the ports of Dumangas, Bacolod and Iloilo.
Ybañez said they are requiring foreign vessels to always give advance information about their presence so that the Coast Guard could anticipate their arrival.*PNA
