BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in northern Negros Occidental yesterday held a search and rescue and oil spill simulation exercise at the Banago Port in Bacolod City.
Commodore Edgar Ybañez, commander of the Coast Guard District Western Visayas, yesterday stressed the importance of such exercises, to ensure proper coordination among government agencies.
Coast Guard personnel were also joined by personnel of the Philippine Red Cross, Bacolod City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CDRRMO), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), as well as PNP Maritime Command Group, in the maritime exercises.
Ybañez said that the PCG would need the assistance of other agencies and even stakeholders in order to save lives during an incident at sea, as he admitted that Coast Guard does not have enough floating assets.*
