23 lawyers joining PH Coast Guard

At least 23 lawyers are being trained to become part of the Philippine Coast Guard to boost its law enforcement mandate. Photo from the PHILIPPINE COAST GUARD

MANILA, Philippines—At least 23 lawyers are being trained to become part of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in what the PCG said was a program to boost its law enforcement mandate.

On Monday (Nov. 9), the PCG held a boot camp for the future Coast Guard officers at the PCG base in Taguig. The officers’ course was attended by 24 trainees—the 23 lawyers and a priest.

Admiral George Ursabia, PCG commandant, said the Coast Guard mandate was “full of law enforcement activities that take numerous legal concerns.”

“Needless to say, we need lawyers,” he said. “Having 23 lawyers and a priest,” he added, “answers the challenges that we are currently facing.”

Lawyers, he said, would help the PCG become a “more efficient and proactive maritime law enforcement body.”

Rear Admiral Artemio Abu, head of the PCG’s Education, Training and Doctrine Command, said the training would prepare the lawyers for public service.

“Never entertain the thought that this course is just an insult to your intelligence,” Abu said, addressing himself to the trainees.

Edited by TSB