The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Wednesday said it relieved 10 personnel of its regional training center for allegedly charging unauthorized fees to new recruits.
According to a message by PCG spokesman Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, the rest of the staff of the regional training center has been reassigned to other units.
“Only 10 personnel have been relieved pending investigation. The rest of the staff have been reassigned to other units,” Balilo said.
No information was given on the new assignments, but the PCG said the officials were placed into a “holding area.”
“They are in the holding area of the Coast Guard Education and Training Command pending investigation,” Balilo said in a text message to Manila Standard.
In an interview with GMA 7’s Dobol B TV, Balilo said that they talked to the victims who complained about the unauthorized charges amounting to as much as P150,000.
“When PCG commandant Admiral Artemio Abu learned about the irregularity three weeks ago, all the staff of the regional training center were relieved and are currently the subject of investigation,” Balilo said.
He pointed out that the PCG training is free and the government already allotted P43,000 for each new recruit.
Citing information from one of the victims who posted such concern online, Balilo said new recruits were asked for contributions and to pay for “extra uniforms” that were overpriced.
The new recruits asserted that the government allocated P43,000 for training gear that can be used by a recruit for six months. But due to overpricing and the addition of unnecessary equipment, the training exceeded the funds.
The recruits cited as examples of the thin handkerchiefs that cost P350 and t-shirts that were only bought somewhere but they were still paid for when they should have been included in the P43,000 government allocation.
Due to the steep illegal fees, Balilo said some new recruits were forced to borrow money from lending institutions.
In separate cases, meanwhile, Balilo said the PCG also monitored fixers who were offering applicants a slot to become part of the agency.
According to him, some fixers who were not connected with the PCG have been arrested.
The recruits also complained about the alleged hostage confiscation their ATM cards and pin codes so that their wages could be directly deducted from the equipment they owed.
“We can’t touch our ATM because they are in control. They said that they will hold it so that the contents do not run out, but in reality, they are running out. They already deducted,” said the recruits who refused to be named.
They also said that some of the recruits are no longer benefiting from their P25,000 entry salary because of the amount of deductions after their training.
“As for me, I owe P138,000, and I’m still paying because we borrowed money from lending firms recommended by them so that we don’t have any more debt for PCG training and then we’ll pay the lending firm,” said another recruit.
Balilo said that they are conducting a thorough investigation on the irregularities.