2024 budget to fund 3 new Coast Guard ships for WPS defense —Zubiri

The newly signed 2024 national budget will include funding for three new ships for the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) which will be utilized to defend the West Philippine Sea, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri disclosed Wednesday.

“Sa security cluster, umabot ng almost P10.2 billion ang nadagdagan. We're buying three big ships for the Coast Guard,” Zubiri said in an ambush interview after the ceremonial signing of the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).

According to the Senate President, the new PCG ships will be made by an Australian company based in Cebu.

“Ang plano po namin ni Presidente, kausap ko po si pangulo, ang plano po ay gawin na po natin ito dito sa Pilipinas. There's an Australian company that builds Australian navy ships, Austal, they're based in Balamban, Cebu. They're looking to be awarded this budget for ship construction para sa ganoon, Pilipino na po ang gagawa ng mga barko na magdedepensa sa West Philippine Sea,” Zubiri said.

(The president and I have just discussed the plan to build these new ships here in the Philippines. There is an Australian company that builds navy ships. They are based in Balamban, Cebu. They’re looking to be awarded this budget for ship construction so that Filipinos will build the ships which will be used in the West Philippine Sea.)

Earlier, Senate finance committee chairman Sonny Angara said that the defense sector will get a huge funding increase under the 2024 national budget.

The 2024 budget, ratified by the House and the Senate on December 11, is 9.5% higher compared to this year's P5.268-trillion national budget.

Zubiri thanked the President for signing the budget on time.

He noted the increase in the budget of the Philippine Coast Guard which aims to continue the measures to protect the country's territorial waters.

“We are proud to have produced what I think is the best budget we have seen in years, with a good balance of social services, infrastructure development, and of course defense and security—including a much-deserved increase in the budget of our Coast Guard, who are at the frontlines of our continued efforts to protect our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea,'' Zubiri said.

''We are also proud to reflect the people’s concerns about confidential funds, by making the 2024 budget more transparent and our government agencies and offices more accountable in their spending,'' he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News