As part of ongoing US-Philippine cooperation to enhance maritime law enforcement capability, the US Coast Guard (USCG) instructors conducted a “Small Boat Operations” course for eight Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) participants in Manila from Feb. 24 to March 6, 2020, the US Embassy in Manila said on Monday /March 9, 2020.
“It’s a great exchange of professional knowledge between USCG and PCG. It will further enhance the Surface Support Force capabilities to respond to search and rescue cases,” PCG Commander Christie Cabuyaban said.
The event was the first in a series of “train the trainer” courses that will prepare PCG instructors to manage small boat operations training for PCG in the future.
The course covered pre-mission planning, risk management, docking, towing, and navigation.
Follow-on courses in this series will develop the technical skills of PCG instructor-candidates, while introducing PCG student-participants as trainees for the instructor development process.
Since 2014, the US has partnered with the PCG to develop its expanding workforce and establish training programs to sustain operational readiness.
“We really enjoy working with the Philippine Coast Guard. They have great small boat handling skills,” USCG Machinery Technician First Class Tony Pagador said.
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