US donating communication tower to PCG in Zambales
SAN ANTONIO, ZAMBALES—The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) station in this province will soon have a new communications and monitoring tower donated by the United States, for better monitoring of the West Philippine Sea.
Cmdr. Euphraim Jayson Diciano, chief of the PCG station in Zambales, on Tuesday said a program formalizing the donation was held in Botolan town, where the new facility will be built.
Present at the program were representatives of the US Embassy’s Civil Military Support unit, PCG officials and local government executives, he said.
The tower will rise on a 225-square-meter property bought by the Botolan municipal government from a private owner and donated to the PCG. The provincial government, for its part, will fund the construction of PCG barracks in the site.
Strategic
Diciano said the facility’s strategic location on Mount Calib-ungan in Barangay Porac, Botolan, would offer extensive radio coverage for easier communication with PCG vessels, especially those conducting “patrol operations” at Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal and other nearby areas.
Panatag has been under the control of the China Coast Guard, its entrance closed to Filipino fishermen, since 2012 after a two-month standoff with the Philippine Navy.
Most of the fishermen who lost access to the shoal, one of their traditional fishing grounds, are from Zambales. Those who dare to approach Panatag come back with accounts of being physically harassed by the Chinese.
According to Diciano, the new communications facility “is not only focused on security but also on humanitarian aspects’’ such as rescue operations, as well as environmental protection. “The grand objective is to monitor and protect all vessels, including small ones venturing into the sea.”
The PCG official spoke of plans to set up another communications facility in the province, this time on its highest mountain, the Tapulao, in Palauig town. The project has yet to obtain the necessary permits since the site is within a protected area.
“For now, Mount Calib-ungan is adequate. We need this facility regardless of the future establishment on Mount Tapulao. While we have an existing facility on Mount Samat in nearby Bataan, Tapulao’s height causes signal propagation issues. Hence, the facility on Mount Calib-ungan is essential,” Diciano added.
