The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will build an additional sub-station in Barangay La Paz in San Narciso in Zambales to strengthen its patrol presence in the West Philippine Sea.
According to the PCG on Friday, it aims to increase the country’s troops for maritime security and maritime safety in the disputed territories in the WPS.
The new PCG sub-station will be built in San Narciso or 250 kilometers away in Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, which was previously ordered by China.
PCG and the leadership of Bgy. La Paz has entered into a memorandum of agreement to construct the PCG Sub-station on a 100-sqm lot owned by the local government.
The Coast Guard hopes that once the sub-station is completed, their troops will be even more proactive in monitoring the security and safety of the local Zambales fishermen who surround the Scarborough Shoal.
The PCG promised that they would also be quicker to respond to any maritime incident in downtown San Francisco with approximately 9 kilometers of coastline.
PH Coast Guard to build additional sub-station in Zambales
In May, the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) evacuated 7 Chinese ships from Sabina Shoal, an area in the West Philippine Sea, the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the South China Sea.
PCG and BFAR are patrolling the West Philippine Sea to intensify surveillance in the country’s oceans.
China continues to ignore the country’s arbitral victory with the territorial dispute in the South China Sea. It will be recalled that they have already started building artificial islands in the South China Sea, some of which are still within the Philippine EEZ.
President Rodrigo Duterte has also called on China to allow Filipinos to fish peacefully there, adding that their country remains a “benefactor” to the Philippines.
On the other hand, he called the arbitration court’s decision nullifying China’s 9-dash line claim over almost the entire South China Sea a “paper” only.
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