To the Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard, CG Admiral Artemio Abu, to all the officers and members of the Philippine Coast Guard, and to all dedicated public servants present here today, magandang umaga po.
It is truly an honor to be here this morning to speak before you. I feel a special sense of pride when I speak before uniformed personnel because I know you are the people who will risk their life and limb for the Filipino people or anyone in need, for that matter, when the situation calls for it.
With the Philippine Coast Guard’s motto “saving lives,” you know that’s true and so we are tremendously grateful for your courage and selflessness. And so I stand before you today not only to give you words of encouragement but to thank you for your service, commitment and dedication. From the bottom of our hearts and on behalf of the Filipino people, maraming salamat po.
Beyond the Philippine Coast Guard’s mandate to save lives in pursuit of maritime safety and security, maritime search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement, there is also the not-so-known aspect of the mandate that I will highlight today: marine environmental protection.
This is an advocacy that is also close to my heart. If I may share, in 2018, I oversaw the Green, Green, Green program of the Department of Budget and Management. It is a unique assistance program that aims to make cities more livable and sustainable through the development of public open spaces. It was given a budget of P2.58-billion funding under the 2018 national budget to fund the creation of parks, plazas and waterfronts, or the improvement of institutional spaces and streets in a total of 143 cities.
And so I commend the Philippine Coast Guard for the National Marine Pollution Exercise or MARPOLEX that we are witnessing today. This is a great feat for us since it serves as a platform to highlight the holistic approach of the Philippine Coast Guard when it comes to service of the Filipino people.
This mandate makes the Philippine Coast Guard the “sole agency responsible for the implementation of conventions with regards to oil pollution, prevention, mitigation and control through the conduct of marine pollution monitoring and control, enhancement of capability and oil spill response operations and enforcement of all marine environmental laws and regulations.”[1]
The MARPOLEX reinforces the Philippine Coast Guard’s commitment to this function, specifically to protect the marine environment. By testing and evaluating the oil spill response capabilities of the National Operations Center for Oil Pollution based on the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan, not only do we assess the capabilities of the Philippine Coast Guard to resolve oil spill problems, but we also get to familiarize ourselves, and train and enhance cooperation among Philippine Coast Guard, other government agencies and maritime stakeholders when it comes to tackling oil spills.
Ultimately, we ensure that the country is prepared in combating oil pollution at sea, especially because we are a member state in the International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation in 1990[2].
In line with this, we, at the Department of Budget and Management would like to express our full support to the Philippine Coast Guard and the main objective of today’s event—environmental preservation.
This is reflected in our 2023 Proposed National Budget where Php 453.1 billion has been marked as climate change expenditures. This amount funds programs and projects focusing on food security, water sufficiency, ecosystem and environmental stability, human security, climate-smart industries and services, and sustainable energy. Included in this are the Php 246.0 million provisions for the management of the coastal and marine ecosystems and the Php 184.0 million for clean water regulations.
Access to water is a right and we hope that through these, we could help build safe aquatic resources for our people.
We encourage you, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the whole Department of Transportation, as well as our partner agencies, to proactively engage in this mechanism of expenditure tracking so that we can make a proper reflection of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in the government. We believe that your work in marine environmental protection has valuable contributions to the achievement of a sustainable economy.
Lastly and ultimately, we allocated Php 21.26 billion to the Philippine Coast Guard. This amount is higher than this year’s budget of only Php 19.31 billion. We hope that through this budget, the nation would see and experience a more established Philippine Coast Guard that will ensure safety and security.
Certainly, in line with today’s theme, it will also enable the Philippine Coast Guard to ensure “Excellence Through Unified Preparedness towards Safer and Cleaner Seas.”
Assalamu alaikum. Maraming salamat at mabuhay ang mga magigiting na tanod ng ating karagatan!
[1] https://coastguard.gov.ph/index.php/transparency/functions.
[2] 2017 MARPOLEX Planning and Signing Conference - https://coastguard.gov.ph/index.php/related/11-news/1351-marine-pollution-exercise-marpolex-2017-marpolex-planning-and-signing-conference
