The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will install four aids to navigation, specifically navigational lanterns, in Batanes.

On Saturday morning, the PCG conducted a send-off ceremony for BRP Gabriela Silang (OPV-8301), that will perform the operation.

According to PCG Deputy Commandant for Operations, Vice Admiral Rolando Punzalan Jr, the navigational lanterns will be installed in four critical lighthouses in Sabtang, Mahatao, Ivana, and Valanga.

These Coast Guard lighthouses guide motorbancas and vessels to ensure their safe passage and entry to ports and harbors. They also warn local fishermen and seafarers about the archipelagic province's shallow and perilous rocky coasts.

Batanes is scattered on 4,500-square-kilometer waters, the Luzon Strait and Balintang Channel, sea lanes between the Philippines and the southern parts of Japan, China, Hongkong, and Taiwan.

The PCG's Task Force Kaligtasan sa Karagatan (TFKsK) oversees the operation to intensify the enforcement of maritime safety laws, conventions, and treaties. These included port state control, aids to navigation, vessel safety, navigational safety, recreational safety, marine casualty investigation, maritime search and rescue, and training.

In May 2022, TFKsK installed five navigational buoys in the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), specifically at Lawak, Likas, Pag-asa, and Parola islands.

Also present during the send-off ceremony were TFKsK Commander, CG Rear Admiral Joseph Coyme; TFKsK Deputy Commander, CG Commodore Rommel Supangan; and Coast Guard Fleet Commander, CG Rear Admiral Charlie Rances. PCG