EDITORIAL - All coast, no guard

While President Aquino is fulfilling his inaugural promise of hiring more police and military personnel to keep up with the needs of the country’s constantly growing population, he should also look into the needs of the Philippine Coast Guard.

The country’s coastline has not grown, but it remains one of the most extensive in the world, alongside those of Canada, Indonesia, Russia and the United States. The threats to public safety and the Philippines’ territorial integrity in those coastal areas have grown over the years, with no corresponding improvement in Coast Guard capability. Poachers take mameng and other fish, endangered marine turtles and corals from Philippine waters. Pirates, human traffickers, and smugglers of a wide range of contraband roam the country’s seas. The PCG does not have enough personnel and resources to completely stop destructive types of fishing, which are destroying coral reefs.

With the onset of the typhoon season, Coast Guard officials are reminding the nation of the inadequacy of their agency, which is often described in jest as all coast and no guard. That is similar to the description of the Philippine Air Force as all air and no force. In a developing country where the government is facing a huge deficit, too many sectors are competing for scarce funding. That is a reality that the Coast Guard must face as it asks for additional resources to boost its capability at least for disaster relief operations.

The PCG has fewer than 6,000 personnel to guard 36,000 kilometers of coastline in this archipelago. The ideal ratio is one Coast Guard member for every kilometer of coastline. The Coast Guard has only eight vessels, one tugboat, 33 small craft and five Islander light utility planes and helicopters. Coast Guard personnel man 14 vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Coast Guard upgrading may not be high on the priority of a new administration that is beset with many other pressing problems, but even a small addition to PCG personnel and equipment will be a boon.