PCG: The Republic of Indonesia- Directorate General of Sea Transportation (DGST) together with the Officer-In-Charge Philippine Coast Guard, Commo Joel S Garcia PCG Ph.D., H.D., Al-Haj welcomed the PCG Delegates for this years’ Maritime Pollution Exercise (MARPOLEX) in Port of Benoa, Bali, Indonesia today, May 15.

The PCG Delegates started their voyage from Philippines to Indonesia last May 8 onboard four (4) Coast Guard Vessels namely: BRP Pampanga (SARV-003); BRP Tubbataha (MRRV-4401);  BRP Nueva Vizcaya (SARV-3502); and Tugboat Habagat (TB-271) and commanded by CDR ANGEL Z VILIRAN PCG, CAPT ROY A ECHEVERRIA PCG, CAPT ALLEN T TORIBIO PCG and CAPT ARNALDO M LIM PCG respectively.

The exercise is the 21st bilateral exercise on maritime pollution between the Philippines and Indonesia since its establishment in 1986. In addition, the Japan Coast Guard has been also actively participating in the said event since 1995 together with the PCG and Indonesia’s Directorate General of Sea Transport (DGST). It is a commitment of the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan in the implementation of the ASEAN Oil Spill Response Action Plan and the Sulawesi Oil Spill Network Response Plan.

The actual exercise which will be held from May 15 to 17, 2017 is aimed to ensure the capabilities of participating countries in addressing pollution from oil spill and to test the inter-operability of each country’s response organization in handling major oil spill incidents.