Mandatory swimming lessons, drowning prevention plans pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Swimming lessons should be included in the basic education curriculum, Rep. Frederick Siao (Iligan City) said Sunday, saying nearly 2,500 die in the Philippines from drowning each year.

Siao, who has a bill pending at the committee level to make swimming lessons mandatory and to require the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to come up with a national drowning prevention plan, said UNICEF found that drowning the second leading cause of death among Filipino children 14 years old and below.

The bill does not say where funding for swimming instructors and facilities will come from.

Under the bill, NDRRMC and the Department of Education will work on including swimming lessons as a subject under the Music, Arts, Physical Education and Health academic area.

Classes will be handled by a "trained instructor or certified lifeguard" and will include water safety and rescue training. They should be done in a safe and controlled environment.

Drowning prevention plan

The same bill requires the NDRRMC to formulate a national drowning prevention plan framework that schools, government agencies and local governments can use to make their own drowning prevention plans.

The plans should result in a community action plan that local governments will formulate and implement. The community action plan will include identifying areas in the local government unit's jurisdiction where drowning is a risk as well as "training on first aid and basic life support and a seminar on drowning prevention."

Siao, on Sunday, said "emergency response should not just be about transporting victims. It must include water rescue and giving first aid and trauma care onsite."

He said that local governments can enlist nursing graduates and nursing students, as well as "seafarers and former seafarers as emergency responders because of their Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) training and experience."