MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation is seeking additional funding from the Department of Budget and Management to allow the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to hire 4,000 personnel this year.

Transport Secretary Jaime Bautista said with the additional workforce, the PCG will be able to deploy one personnel per kilometer of the country's coastline.

"We're helping them to increase the number of personnel. [They are] now more than 30,000 and we're looking at hiring 4,000 more within the year," Bautista said.

As far as assets are concerned, he said the PCG is in the process of acquiring floating and aerial equipment.

"We just had approval to purchase five 97-meter MRRVs (multi-role response vessels). We already signed the loan agreement with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) on this. It's already in the procurement process," Bautista said.

"We need more helicopters and 35-meter fast patrol vessels to support the mission of the PCG not only in the West Philippine Sea but also in other shores of the country," he added.

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