Coast Guard In Action !, Maritime Patrols, news, updates

Coast Guard seizes bomb materials at Batangas port
By Arnell Ozaeta Updated October 15, 2008 12:00 AM


Lt. Commander Troy Cornelio, Coast Guard-Batangas station commander, shows some of the blasting caps and time fuses seized from an Iloilo-bound passenger bus. Arnell Ozaeta

Batangas City – As part of its effort to fight terrorism in Southern Tagalog, Coast Guard personnel seized thousands of materials used in making explosives stacked in a vehicle bound for Iloilo at the Batangas Port yesterday.

Lt. Commander Troy Cornelio, Batangas station commander of the Coast Guard, said 6,100 blasting caps and 3,050 time fuses were found by their K-9 units and Batangas boarding team personnel inside a Ceres Bus with license plate FWM-949 during a random check on M/V Ursula of Montenegro Shipping Lines.

Cornelio said the shipment was discovered in a bus compartment by a two-year-old Labrador K-9 dog named “Sea Woman Courage” handled by Coast Guard Seaman 2nd Taylor Paday-os.

Cornelio said the seized blasting caps and time fuses could be used for illegal fishing or worse, for terrorist attacks.

Cornelio told The STAR the materials can also be used in mining but the user must first secure the necessary documents.

He said they tried to call the cell phone number indicated on the box containing the seized materials but nobody answered the call.

Commodore Cecil Chen, Southern Tagalog district commander of the Coast Guard, quoted the bus driver, a certain Abner Chan, and conductor Reymel Libuna as saying that somebody could just pick up the shipment in Iloilo.

“This operation is part of our ongoing effort in instituting appropriate security measures in the port area of Batangas and vessels bound for nearby provinces” Chen said.

Chen said the confiscated items are stored at the Coast Guard’s Batangas headquarters for proper disposition.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=407267

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That's why our Philippine Coast Guard must have
more ships than the PN.
Also SAR AIRCRAFTS and OFFSHORE PATROL VESSELS

2nd Taiwanese fishing boat caught poaching in RP waters
05/17/2009 | 03:17 AM

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has seized a Taiwanese fishing boat along with its eight crew for allegedly poaching on Philippine waters in the northern province of Batanes, an official said Saturday.

Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, PCG commandant, said the vessel’s crew included three Taiwanese, three Chinese nationals, and two Filipinos.

Tamayo, citing field reports, said the Coast Guard’s MCS 3005 vessel was patrolling on waters between the islands of Camiguin and Babuyan Claro in Batanes at 3:15 a.m. Friday it spotted on radar the Ching Hong Cheng fishing.

When the patrol ship approached, the poachers reportedly tried to flee but stopped when warning shots were fired.

The fishing boat and its crew were then taken to Port Irene in Cagayan province, where they face charges for violation of laws against poaching.

Last Tuesday, another Coast Guard patrol ship, the MCS 3001, apprehended another Taiwanese fishing boat, the TZ FU TIEN, with 2 Taiwanese and 10 Indonesian nationals on board.

Tamayo and Director Malcolm Sarmiento of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) deployed the MCS vessels to different parts of the country to run after poachers and other illegal fishers. (- GMANews.TV

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/161617/2nd-Tai...ng-in-RP-waters

Hehehe... short on boats, they need to do their job



In this photo released by the Philippine Coast Guard Tuesday Sept. 8, 2009, a fishing boat with Coast Guard personnel onboard, right, tows to the shore a life boat with four Koreans and 15 Filipino crewmen of the ill-fated Panamanian-registered cargo ship who abandoned their ship that stalled and lost power in rough seas in the central Philippines Monday Sept.7, 2009. Coast Guard Chief Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said the M/V Hera, enroute to China from Papua New Guinea with a cargo of logs, encountered engine trouble forcing all the crewmen to abandon the vessel. off eastern Samar in central Philippines. The accident followed Sunday's sinking of a passenger ferry which left nine passengers dead. (AP Photo/Philippine Coast Guard)



(AP Photo/Philippine Coast Guard)

Balangay crew rescues woman in Romblon

By DJ Yap
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:42:00 09/22/2009

MANILA, Philippines – The 21st day of a sea adventure aboard the “balangay” (precolonial boat) turned into an impromptu rescue mission as the intrepid crew rolled into a remote island off Romblon Monday and came upon an old woman on the brink of death.

On the island of Maestro de Campo, the balangay expedition members saved 68-year-old Aurora Tomining, who was suffering from a heart condition coupled with pneumonia, team leader Art Valdez said in a phone call to the Inquirer.

“She was in very critical condition when we came. There was no hospital on the island, and the last time a doctor was here was one year ago,” he said.

An emergency rescue operation was launched with the help of Capt. Ferdinand Velasco and his crew aboard Coast Guard search-and-rescue vessel no. 3502, Valdez said.

“She had to be flown in by helicopter to Manila. I heard she was already in Manila (by Tuesday),” he said.

The balangay crew, composed of members of the first Philippine expedition team to Mt Everest, the same group who successfully climbed the world’s highest peak in 2006, had arrived in the town of Concepcion on the island at noon Monday.

Valdez said the group, with the help of the mayor, Lemuel Cipriano, organized a medical mission to help out the island inhabitants through free medical consultation with Dr. Ted Esguerra, a member of the balangay crew.

It was during the medical mission that Esguerra came across Tomingin, who had been bedridden and in terrible condition, Valdez said.

“It was fortunate that we came at just the right time,” he said. “It was all Dr. Ted Esguerra’s doing. He had been up all night and he attended to more than 100 patients.”

Philippine Daily Inquirer

(SARV 3502 aka BRP Nueva Vizcaya is a 35-meter SAR vessel acquired brand-new from Tenix Shipbuilding (now part of BAE Systems) of Australia in 2003.)

Bon Voyage, Diwata Ng Lahing Balangay!

Then-LTCDR (now CAPTAIN) Ferdinand M. Velasco wrote an article about the ships of the Philippine Coast Guard ... for the Royal New Zealand Navy.

Good job to the PCG!

Philippine coast guards carry a rubber boat into a military truck at the coast guards' headquarters in Manila October 20, 2009 during preparations for Typhoon Lupit. The Philippines began evacuating thousands of people in northern areas prone to floods and landslides on Tuesday ahead of a powerful Typhoon that has gained strength over the Pacific, officials said. Typhoon Lupit, which means "fierce" in Filipino, was expected to make landfall around the far northern tip of the Luzon region by Thursday.
REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco (PHILIPPINES DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)



A Philippine coast guard prepares his diving suit before boarding a military truck at the coast guards' headquarters in Manila October 20, 2009 during preparations for Typhoon Lupit. The Philippines began evacuating thousands of people in northern areas prone to floods and landslides on Tuesday ahead of a powerful Typhoon that has gained strength over the Pacific, officials said. Typhoon Lupit, which means "fierce" in Filipino, was expected to make landfall around the far northern tip of the Luzon region by Thursday. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco (PHILIPPINES DISASTER ENVIRONMENT)

Guardians of coast and land

STARWEEK MAGAZINE
By Evelyn Z. Macairan (The Philippine Star) Updated October 18, 2009 12:00 AM

Long and informative article, about the PCG's rescue efforts during the height of Ondoy as well as its present capabilities and future plans.