By Betheena Kae Unite Over 600 aspiring Coast Guards recently took oath, marking the start of their intense training that will take place in a training center in Bataan, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. A total of 606 candidates took oath Wednesday before Rear Admiral Elso Hermogino, PCG commandant, at the Coast Guard headquarters in South Harbor Manila. Of the 606 hopefuls, 500 were men and 106 were women. (Philippine Coast Guard / MANILA BULLETIN) According to the Coast Guard, they will undergo intense training at Coast Guard Non-Officer Basic Education and Training Center (NOBETC) Annex in Bagac, Bataan “in order to instill discipline and to transform their civilian mindset to abide with time-honored coast guard traditions and standards”. The oath-taking and convening ceremony were also presided by Rear Admiral Leopoldo Laroya, acting commander of Coast Guard Education and Training Command (CGETC), and Commodore Eduardo Fabricante, chief of Coast Guard Staff. Recently over 400 newly-enlisted PCG personnel took oath into the service of the organization as part of its mandate to modernization and hiring more PCG personnel. In 2017, Coast Guard revealed its intention to hire 4,000 personnel because the organization lacks men to command all 11, 000 coastal barangays in the country. Commodore Joel Garcia, then PCG officer-in-charge, said the PCG was looking to hire 4,000 additional men and women to be enlisted under the PCG. As of October 2017, the PCG has 10, 000 personnel, however, Garcia then claimed that the agency is still undermanned. Captain Armand Balilo, PCG Spokesman, on the other hand said the Coast Guard has yet to complete the 4,000 requirement of new personnel as they are still polishing the rules. “Ang explanation diyan hindi lahat puwede i-recruit as beginner, may backlog din tayo ibang rango sa taas. (The explanation on that is not all can be recruited as beginners, we also have backlog on higher ranks) But many have been applying, we can’t just give the go signal yet because we are still polishing the rules,” Balilo said. Meanwhile, two Coast Guard officials have been promoted as PCG Flag Officers. Rear Admiral Athelo Ybañez and Commodore Teotimo Borja Jr. Were promoted, according to the PCG. Ybañez is currently the deputy commandant for Operations while Borja is the director of the PCG-Project Management Office (PCG-PMO). Ybanez is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class of 1984 while Borja belongs to PMA Class of 1992.