PCG to install marine lanterns in Batanes

THE Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will install navigational lanterns in four critical lighthouses in Batanes to ensure the safe passage and entry of marine vessels to ports and harbors.

According to PCG Deputy Commandant for Operations Vice Admiral Rolando Lizor Punzalan Jr., the navigational lanterns will be installed in four critical lighthouses in Sabtang, Mahatao, Ivana and Valanga.

Punzalan said these Coast Guard lighthouses will guide motorboats and vessels and ensure their safe passage and entry to ports and harbors. They also warn local fisherfolk and seafarers about the archipelagic province’s shallow and perilous rocky coasts.

Batanes is scattered on the 4,500-square-kilometer waters of the Luzon Strait and Balintang Channel, as well as the sea lanes between the Philippines and the southern parts of Japan, China, Hongkong and Taiwan.

The PCG’s Task Force Kaligtasan sa Karagatan (TFKsK) oversees the operation to intensify the enforcement of maritime safety laws, conventions and treaties. These include port state control, aids to navigation, vessel safety, navigational safety, recreational safety, marine casualty investigation, maritime search and rescue, and training.

On Saturday, the PCG conducted a sendoff ceremony for BRP Gabriela Silang (OPV-830Q), which will perform the said operation.

In May 2022, TFKsK installed five navigational buoys in the Kalayaan Island Group, specifically at Lawak, Likas, Pag-asa and Parola Islands.