[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’ SP pushes for lifeguards at public beaches, rivers’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=’custom’ color=”]
Saturday, April 29, 2017
[/av_textblock]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
BACOLOD City – City councilors want the local government to detail lifeguards in public swimming areas.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) asked the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), through Mayor Evelio Leonardia, to hire certified lifeguards.
These lifeguards will be “deployed to public places frequented by residents as swimming places, such as but not limited to seashores, beaches, creeks, and rivers, during weekend or during the feast of St. John the Baptist,” the SP said in a resolution authored by Ricardo Tan.
Tan said his resolution, which the SP approved on April 26, is different from City Ordinance (CO) No. 749, series of 2015.
While CO No. 749 ensures the safety of swimmers in commercial pools and resorts, it does not cover government-owned areas frequented by people who want a free swim, said the councilor.
Local governments are obliged to ensure the safety of people in public swimming areas, Tan said, citing Section 16 of the Local Government Code.
Earlier Leonardia ordered the CDRRMO to revisit CO No. 749.
The ordinance requires pool and resort owners to have certified lifeguards and lifeguarding equipment.
Most pools and resorts in the city lack lifeguards, the mayor said, citing information from Executive Assistant Joemarie Vargas, CDRRMO cluster head.
“Lifeguards are supposedly a permanent fixture in a resort,” the mayor stressed.
“Resorts are good businesses, so they … can afford to hire lifeguards,” he added. “If they cannot hire lifeguards, they have no business operating.”
Lifeguards and lifeguarding equipment are “indispensable” if pool and resort operators are to “prevent swimming accidents, ensure the safety of pool/resort goers, [and] preserve the…readiness of the swimming or bathing area, particularly in times of emergencies,” CO No. 749 stated.
Violators face imprisonment from five to 30 days and fines ranging from P2,000 to P5,000.
Ensuring compliance with and enforcing the ordinance are, for the most part, functions of the CDRRMO.
Section 5 of CO No. 749 provides that the local disaster management office shall “issue a certification of compliance…which shall also be the basis for the issuance of business permits.”
The CDRRMO shall also conduct a “regular inspection” of pools, resorts and beaches.
It shall “recommend to the Permits and Licensing Office the suspension of [the] business permit of a certain business entity after finding (in a regular inspection) that it is not complying with any of the afore-cited…requirements.”/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
