CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) admits its lack personnel to cover the 7,107 islands of the country.
According to Captain Anelito Gabisan, Public Information Officer of the PCG-District Central Visayas, they are targetting to hire more than 1,000 personnel for this year. He also said they plan to double their recruitment in the next five years so they would reach an average of 25,000 personnel.
“Kulang na man talaga lahat pati sa PNP (Philippine National Police) kahit sa AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) and we need more personnel,” Gabisan told The FREEMAN in a phone interview.
The PCG currently has almost 5,000 personnel.
In order to address the problem, Gabisan said they trained their personnel on how to do multi-tasking.
“Kagaya ko tatlo ‘yung positions ko rito mas maganda kung meron talagang concerned personnel,” Gabisan said. (Now I’m handling three positions but it’s ideal if we could have more people.)
Aside from being the PIO, Gabisan is also the Acting Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the PCG in Central Visayas.
Gabisan is encouraging all interested men to apply as enlisted personnel and commissionship to the Philippine Coast Guard Service.
Applicants may apply personally at the PCGDCV headquarters located in Pier 3, Arellano Boulevard, Cebu City for initial screening on September 12 to 2. The examination will be on September 22.
Candidates must be a natural born Filipino, single, 5’4” tall and 18 to 26 years old. He or she must also be physically and mentally fit for training and has at least 72 units in college or with two years TESDA training relevant to shipboard assignment.
Gabisan said the PCGDCV conducts recruitment twice a year, every April and September.
In April, the PCGDCV recruited almost 500 personnel.
“I will advise that they should take the opportunity now because they are lucky that for the Visayas the recruitment center is here in Cebu,” Gabisan said. (FREEMAN)