Coast Guard District Northern Luzon rolled up its sleeves to rise up the challenge of teaching civilians about safe water rescue, the work it knows best. The 4-day training title water search and rescue (WaSAR) was sponsored by the LGU of Vigan City, Ilocos Sur and was participated in by twenty (20) rescue students from 29 July 01 august 2009.

There were four (4) basic modules which are basic swimming strokes. Life saving techniques, rubber boat operators and basic life support. Presentation materials and verbal instructions were mainly in Filipino or Ilocano which was truly appreciated by the students because it facilitated easy understanding on their part. The effort of the CDGNLZ training staff truly paid of as proven  the post training assessment by the LGUs and students that the training was conducted in a manner that is “non militarized ”and quite cheerful which contrary to their initial expectation, made learning all the more enjoyable and effective.

This is the third WaSAR training held within region1 over the years which has fortified the presence of coast guard trained water securers in Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte and now in Ilocos sur. The ideals for CDGNLZ to have “stand-by partners” at the level of the community during disaster emergency that can provide a swift response during the “golden hour” when casualties may still be rescued alive. Since it imparts capabilities to save lives it impowers local rescuers and coordination of response be easily established even prior to the arrival of responding SOG personnel in the area.

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Last August 2008, I led the delegation of Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary which attended the US Coast Guard Auxialiary’s annual National Convention in my new capacity as PCGA National Director. It was there, during the International Round Table discussion, that the US Coast Guard Auxiliary presented the task of forming an alliance of Search and Rescue Organizations in the Asia Pacific Region. COMMO Ray Campbell, National Commodore of the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association (AVCGA) and I, accepted the challenge and committed that we would try to form the alliance before the next USCGA National Convention in August 2009.

Three months after, on November 2008, being invited to attend the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard Association’s annual convention, I led four other flag officers to Brisbane, Australia. There we signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the AVCGA, similar to what we have with the USCGA. After the convention, we had a meeting where we agreed to organize an Asia Pacific conference tentatively to be held in February or March of 2009 in Manila, Philippines.

As it is told, the speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack! With a flamboyant and resolute Commandant, ADMIRAL Wilfredo D Tamayo, the Coast Guard Special Operations Group (CGSOG) could not afford to slow down. Its fleet of rubber boats is always warmed up and the legs of its frogmen are always in shape. Its distinguished lead officers are always on alert to receive direct instructions from the Fleet Commander or the Commandant himself.

Taking the cue from the innovative character of the Commandant, who seems to grasp fully well the two great laws of life: “Growth and Decay”, the CGSOG slowly restructure and comes up with dynamic innovations to showcase its relevance to the general public. On several occasions, the Commandant pointed out that the PCG has evolved into a multi-tasked, multi faceted and multi-roled organization. The changes or “growth” as we may consider of course are not mere capricious whims but rather natural forces adhered to, otherwise “decay” would engulf our organization. These pronouncements have inspired the Group to come up with its innovative programs and be critical with it coined and adopted motto “Semper Superne Nitens” which simply means “always striving upwards.

The much daunted “global crisis” has prompted some of the world’s leading financial technocrats and managers to review and redefine their respective country’s existing trading and economic policies in order to mitigate the long –term.

In this case of the Philippines, our country is “probably fortunate” to have the usual financial miracle coming from the much need Dollar remittances from the more than Ten (10) million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) that span from Europe \, Middle East, Austral-Asia and the continental United States including all oceans of the world (of course, we have to include our seafarers). The infusion of the green bucks from our OFWs, more often stabilizes the country’s Balance of Payment thereby alleviating our country’s dependency on the U.S. dollar.

But for how long are we going to be dependent on our OFW remittances in order to literally save our economy from unforeseen fortuitous economic events? As an economic policy direction, are we going to maintain our global niche as the foremost labor export producing country in the next Thirty (30) years? Do we have a choice?

Although our President had infused some major structural economic reforms in order to jeep our country’s economy resilient in the face of this global economic downturn, our policy makers in government (both local and national) should collectively look for some ways and means to find for some durable and lasting solutions in order to galvanize our domestic economy and make the same as the bulwark of progress and development, and not relying heavily on overseas remittances,

If one has to review the present political grouping of nations around the world , by way of dissecting the major political and social events that had influenced mankind in the las 1,500 years, and likewise basing it from the historical perspective presented to us by Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Western historians we could readily agree primarily that nations of today is practically an indirect by-product of “trade” of natural resources, most specially, food commodities that cannot be found in Europe. These are the silk trade route to China the European demand for sugar and spices from the Indies , the European thirst for coffee from Africa and South America (gold as well), the European demand for tea from Asia, the discovery of oil in the Arabian peninsula, the establishment of the British East India Company to oversee (later govern) India’s natural resources and the commodities (which eventually led mahatma Gandhi to dramatize the plight of his people against the imposition of “salt taxes”, and later on went to something politically bigger leading to India’s gaining of independence). Yet these are just few of the myriad economic events (that involves trade) that had crucially shaped the culture and political destinies and divisions of most countries in Asia, Africa and America.

In other words, trade plays a major role not only in the economic but in the socio-political survival of a nation. As can be analyzed in the foregoing examples, we can simply say that the reason why societies of men engage in trading activity since time immemorial is because of their ultimate need of filling up their stomach of food for survival and hoarding natural resources for their nations survival, And because of this, strong nations have emerged out of the societies of those men who have perfected the art and power of trade, in particular, the shipping trade. It is on this context that we have to examine on untapped corner in the Philippines where all the potential elements of becoming a major trading post in Southeast Asia are present and that is, the Southern part of Palawan province.

We start with the story of garlic, onion, cooking oil, sugar, tea, coffee, fish, noodles, and the likes, all “small foodstuffs” and bits and pieces of natural resources fo man’s everyday needs and for his stomach – foodstuffs and natural resources that had redefined the global political landscape of mankind for the last 500 years. Small items they may seem, but indeed history would tell us that they had shaped i rub-shaped many a nation. And this is where we contemplate on how to shape the economic direction of our nation through starting on the simple trade of these commodities with our neighbors and vice-versa, which would probably lead into something economically rewarding in the future. The idea here is to start small and simple.

For 1,500 years, the people of Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Southern Palawan have been trading their foodstuffs with their neighbors from Sabah, Malaysia and even in Indonesia, simply because it is near and convenient for them, Peace abounds in their societies despite some small tribal conflicts. They socially interact and trade with each other, There were no known political, social and cultural boundaries to speak about. It was only until the advent of the British the Spanish and the American colonization period, and the aftermath of World War II that most of our societies in this part of Southeast Asia were politically, socially and culturally divided,

However despite the political developments that had happened in the lastly 500 years in our area and as we have entered the dawn of the 21st century, our Southern peoples have persisted in their trading activities along with their counterparts in Malaysia, Bournei and Indonesia. This unorganized activity of informal trading for
“small foodstuffs” and bits and pieces of natural resources (which is actually vital fir their survival), is somewhat oblivious to the mind of the today’s planner, which at present, has actually redounded to indirectly inducing security problems in terms of smuggling, social apathy lawlessness, criminalities, and the likes due to the absence of CIVILIAN government infrastructure, such as, Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and Security (Coast Guard and Police), or otherwise known as CIQS, to take care in processing this trading and the movement of people.

Since no CIVILIAN authorities are checking them every time they cross the border to buy onion, garlic, cooking oil and even gasoline or diesel to fuel their generators (since there is no electricity in their area), they would rather do their marketing in Kudat, Sandagan, Kota kinabalo, Lubuan or even in Brunei, which would only take them between 30 minutes to 5 hours of se travel, depending in the distance of the place where they are coming from.

In today’s political and economic language this is purely illegal, but in the language of these people, this activity is “legal” since their forefathers have been doing this for hundreds of years. In the case if the people in Blabac and Mangsee Islands, their dilemma is also exacerbated by the fact that if they force themselves to buy their daily supply from Puerto Princesa City, It would take them one day to reach their destination by sea and by land, in addition to spending a lot of money and fuel, fare, and lodging expenses, notwithstanding that the prices of goods there, are far more expensive that in Sabah.

This story may be considered a cliché by some of our economic planners, since they would say that thus problem is just a typical one befalling those people living in the far-flung areas of Southern Mindanao, and this situation has been a perennial problem of the government way back during the time of President Marcos. They would further add that our government then, in order to uplift the living conditions of our Muslim and Christian brothers in those areas, had established the barter trade posts in Zamboanga and Jolo, but subsequently it failed due to some abuses. So what is new about this trade? Why push for it since it will just fail anyway like the barter trade posts in Zamboanga and Jolo.

Of coursem the big difference is, in a ”barter trade”, one has a concession from the government where goods coming from Sabah are free of tax, while in “conventional trade”, one has to pay the corresponding duties and taxes accruing the imported goods.

At this junctuyre, if we pause for a while and reflect on the geo-political configurtation of Southern Plawan (temporarily putting aside Zamboanga, Basilan, Jolo and Tawi-Tawi from our discussion), vis-à-vis its economic potential, one would discover the following facts:

There are more than half a million people living in Southern Palawan. Since most of them use sea transportation to go to Manila it normally takes the almost two (2) days to reach their destination. Goods in Palawan become expensive because of expensive freight cost.
Travel time by sea from the Southernmost tip of Plaawan to Kudat, Kota Kinabalo, Labuan or Brunei is between 30 minutes to 5 hours, depending on the place where they come from (and also depending on the speed of the boat as well).
A lot of goods, supplies and materials are cheaper in Sabah as compared to buyinh the same in puerto Princesa City, since most of them come from Manila, where time, freight, man-hours, shipping turn-around are added costs.
Strait of Balabac is considered a vital international sea lane since most ships coming from Singapore or the Strait of Malacca bounded for the U.S. pass through this water. Lord Stamford Raffles, if he is alive today, would also envisage Southern Palawan as the next Singapore in Asia. During his time, nobody would ever thought that Singapore would eventually metamorphose as a world renowned shipping hub, except that this Island is adjacent to the Strait of Malacca, Like Southern Palawan is adjacent to the Strait of Balabac.
Philippines had initiated in the ASEAN an economic program of an increase in free trade coupled with “zero tariff” rate in the year 2020. Opening Southern Palawan to the world through initializing the conventional trade with Sabah may open a floodgate of unquantifiable economic opportunities for the Philippines.
Eighty (80) percent of goods in “169” Divisoria and most stores in Baclaran (probably even in SM and Rustans) are either imported from China, Thailand, U.S., Malaysia, Singapore, etc. Why can’t Southern Palawan import the same goods from Sabah and sell the same to its local stores since traders would pay the same duties and taxes anyway? Simply because, there is no established conventional trade in Southern Palawan from abroad for the reason tha it lacks the administrative government infrastructure such as the CIQS.
Southern Palawan has a big potential to become the next “168” Divisoria or a wholesale trade center of goods not found in Manila (or found to be expensive). This, luring big Filipino businessmen to trade wholesale in this area. The RORo p[ort in Taytay (North of Palawan mainland) will be completed before the end of the year, and travel time to Manila from this port would only take approximately 12 to 15 hours, as compared with the present travel time of almost 48 hours. In a way, this will encourage traders to buy wholesale goods and materials from Palawan bought from Sabah, thence, transport the same to Manila and oother point of destinations in Luzon.
Direct flight from Puerto Pirncesa to Kota Kinabalo is only approximately 40 minutes; a great potential for tourism. In fact, one airline has started commercial flights that costs P2.800 which is cheaper than flying to Manila from Puerto Pricesa. One could practically spend his time in Kota Kinabalo and Brunei over the weekend since there is no visa requirement. The same holds true for tourists coming from Sabah who would want to visit Palawan.
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have a combined consumer population of approximately 300 million, coupled with and abundance of skilled and talented manpower, as well as natural resources.

ADMIRAL WILFREDO D TAMAYO PCG(Ret)
(Former Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard)

Present Positions

Senior Executive Vice President for Maritime Affairs 
University of Perpetual Help System
 - UPHS DALTA College of Maritime Education (Las Piñas Campus)
 - UPHS JONELTA College of Maritime Education (Biñan Campus)
 - UPHSL Maritime Training Center, Inc. (Cabuyao, Laguna)

Executive Director for International Student Affairs
 - University of Perpetual Help System DALTA (Las Piñas Campus)

Contents

1. Education

2. Major Positions Held at Philippine Coast Guard

3. Sea Duty Assignments on Board PN and PCG Vessels

4. Earlier Assignments with PN and PCG

5. Major International Positions Held

6. Major Awards Received

7.Personal/ Family Profile

8. Plans

9. Contact information

Education

Graduated from the University of St La Salle
with Master’s Degree in Business Administration

Graduated from the United States Coast Guard Academy
with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering
(New London, CT, USA- May 1979)

Studied at the Philippine Military Academy 
(Baguio City - 1973-1974)

Graduated from San Francisco High School 
(Quezon City - April 1971)

Graduated from Esteban Abada Elementary School  
(Quezon City - April 1967)

Major Positions Held at Philippine Coast Guard

Commandant of the Philippine Coast Guard (June 1, 2018 – April 19, 2011)
Vice Commandant for Operations
Vice Commandant for Administration
Commander of Coast Guard Operating Forces
Commander of Coast Guard Education and Training Command
Commander of Coast Guard District National Capital Region-Central Luzon
Commander of Coast Guard District Southern Tagalog
Commander of Coast Guard District Bicol
Chief of Coast Guard Staff
Pioneer Commander of Task Force Sea Marshal

Sea Duty Assignments on Board PN and PCG Vessels

Junior Billets served on board PN Vessels:
    BRP Sierra Madre (AL-57)
    BRP Marinduque (LF-36)
    On Board PCG Vessel:
    BRP Bessang Pass (SAR-75)

Executive Officer on Board PCG Vessel:
    BRP Corregidor (AE-891)

Commanding Officer of PCG Capital Ships:
    BRP Corregidor (AE-891) – Buoy and Lighthouse Tender
    BRP EDSA II (SARV-002) – Search and Rescue Vessel 

Earlier Assignments with PN and PCG

Pioneer Marine Environment Protection Officer (MEPO) of the National Operations Center for Oil Pollution (NOCOP)
Assistant Commander of Coast Guard Station Zamboanga
Commander of Coast Guard Station Bongao (Tawi-Tawi)
Commander of Coast Guard Station Bacolod (Negros Occidental)
Operations and Staff Intelligence Officer of the First Coast Guard District (now CGD NCR-CL)
Head of the Inventory Control and Systems Engineering Divisions of the Naval Logistics
Command Chief of Budget Branch of the Office of Naval Staff for Comptrollership    

Major International Positions Held

Chairman, 4th Heads of Asian Coast Guard Agencies’ Meeting (HACGAM) – 2008
Chairman, 11th Asia Pacific Heads of Maritime Safety Agencies Forum (APHOMSA) - 2010

Major Awards Received

The Order of Lakandula
Four (4) Coast Guard Legion of Honor Awards
Three (3) Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medals
One (1) AFP Outstanding Achievement Medal
Two (2) Coast Guard Outstanding Achievement Medals
Two (2) Coast Guard Gawad sa Kaunlaran Medals
One (1) Coast Guard Bronze Cross Medal
Twenty (20) Military and Coast Guard Merit Medals
Six (6) Military and Coast Guard Commendation Medals
Several Campaign Medals, Plaques, Certificates of Merit/ Appreciation
Letters of Commendations
Ulirang Ama Awardee (2015)

Personal/ Family Profile

Admiral Tamayo was born in Cavite City on April 22, 1955. He is married to the former Miss Anna Marie Parillas, a practicing dentist, and they are blessed with three (3) children namely John Santeo, Jan Marlina, and Joshua William. He is the son of the late LT Teofilo Loyola Tamayo PN(Ret) and the former Marina Gonzales Doria of San Carlos City and Urbiztondo, Pangasinan, respectively. 

read more https://wilfredotamayo.com/official-biography-of-admiral-wilfredo-d-tamayo