The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will establish an academy at the boundary of Barangay Talacagay in Hinoba-an and Barangay Nabulao, Sipalay City, in Negros Occidental.
The National PCG Academy has a budgetary allocation of P2.36 billion, including the P800 million training ship, and Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said this means lots of economic and tourism activities in the areas of Sipalay, Candoni, and Hinoba-an, with the expected continuous presence of about 5,000 cadets.
Lacson also expressed his appreciation to Nelson Huerva, managing director of Huerva Estate for their willingness to donate an additional 20 to 25 hectares of prime coastal property in Nabulao Bay to host the academy infrastructures.
Commander Jansen Benjamin of PCG Northern Negros Occidental, architect Danny Yee, and Huerva, among others, met with Lacson at the Capitol in Bacolod City recently and updated him on the latest projects and plans of the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard Base Southern Negros project, started in 2019, now has a completed port, a four-story administrative building, perimeter wall, and other support infrastructures.
The base is also a strategic site for the proposed academy, Benjamin said.
Lacson stressed his support to the academy’s establishment and the Coast Guard’s modernization projects in southern Negros.
Benjamin said the PCG plans to recruit 100,000 officers and enlisted personnel in the next 10 years. “The aim is to put a PCG substation in each coastal municipality and city nationwide to attain the target of three coast guardians for every kilometer of coastline.”
The proposed PCG modernization law was approved on third and final reading by the House of Representatives last month.
It seeks to strengthen the PCG, and has a yearly allocation of P5 billion for the next five years, aside from the initial fund allocation required for the first year of the law’s implementation and the setting up of a modernization trust fund, the Capitol said in a press release Oct. 14. ||
