SUPPORT FOR NCWC. Navy chief, Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo (right), presents a token of appreciation to National Coast Watch Center chief, Commodore Roy Echeverria (left), during a courtesy call at the Navy headquarters in Manila on Monday (Sept. 28, 2020). The Navy vowed its full support to the NCWC in protecting the country's maritime interests. (Photo courtesy of the Naval Public Affairs Office)
MANILA – The Philippine Navy (PN) has expressed its full support and cooperation with the National Coast Watch Center (NCWC) in protecting the country's maritime interests.
Navy chief Vice Admiral Giovanni Carlo Bacordo made this comment shortly after newly-appointed NCWC chief, Coast Guard Commodore Roy Echeverria, paid a courtesy call to PN headquarters in Naval Station Jose Andrada, Roxas Boulevard, Manila on Monday.
During the meeting, Bacordo expressed the PN's full support to the NCWC which is mandated to coordinate and implement the "whole-of-government efforts in protecting the Philippine national interests against security threats, enforcement of national sovereignty and sovereign rights, and fulfillment of the international responsibilities and obligations throughout the maritime jurisdiction of the country".
He described the NCWC chief's visit as an "opportunity to come up with stronger interagency coordination and collaboration between NCWC and our maritime research information center (MRIC) and maritime situational awareness centers (MSAC) in providing them maritime information to support awareness in our maritime domain”.
Echeverria took command of the NCWC last September 1. He was the former commander of the Coast Guard District Southeastern Mindanao prior to his assumption.
The NCWS was established on September 6, 2011, based on former president Benigno Aquino III's Executive Order No. 57 mandating it as “the central inter-agency mechanism for a coordinated and coherent approach on national maritime issues and maritime security operations towards enhancing governance in the country’s maritime domain"
Echeverria's visit further established a robust linkage between the two agencies as they strengthened ties towards enhancing governance in the country’s maritime domain. (PNA)
