On a warm, sunny afternoon of 17 August 2016 , US Coast Guard (USCG) 14th District Commander RADM Vincent Atkins welcomed Consul General Gina Jamoralin aboard a USCG cutter in Honolulu. Consul General Jamoralin was accompanied by Philippine AFP Liaison Officer to USPACOM Capt. Rey dela Cruz ( PN) and Asst. Liaison Officer Colonel Rolando Orengo (PA). USCG 14th District headquarters in Honolulu is responsible for the Hawaiian Islands, Guam, American Samoa and activities in Saipan, Singapore and Japan.
Consul General Jamoralin and her delegation was briefed about the activities and organization of USCG 14th District and was toured inside the ship. Consul General Jamoralin also briefed RADM Atkins on the current activities of the Philippine Coast Guard and thanked him for the recent transfer to the Philippine Navy on July 21, 2016 in Coast Guard Base Alameda, San Diego, California of a decommissioned US Coast Guard’s USS Boutwell (WHEC 719), a former high endurance Coastguard cutter. The USCGC Boutwell, the third US cutter transferred to the Philippines through the United States Excess Defense Articles program, will be designated a Philippine frigate named BRP Andres Bonifacio.
RADM Atkins expressed enthusiasm for further collaboration between the United States and Philippine Coast Guards, particularly in the areas of search and rescue and capacity building. The USCG took part in the United States’ disaster and humanitarian response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013.
The US Coast Guard 14th District actively participated in the 2016 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Multilateral Maritime Exercises held last month in Pearl Harbor and in the US-PH Mutual Defense Board- Security Engagement Board (MDB-SEB) Executive Committee Meeting held in Honolulu on August 9-12, 2016 through the Maritime Security Working Group. (END)
