One hundred twenty nine (129) personnel of the Philippine National Police (PNP), now undergoing the Special Counter-Insurgency Operations Unit Training or (SCOUT), are subjected to the five-day short course on Search and Rescue (SAR) Training at the Senator Lorenzo Teves Aqua Center.

The Provincial Government of Negros Oriental, through the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC), is facilitating the short course SAR training for the use of the venue and for tapping the expertise of the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) as the facilitators of the said training.

The SAR training is now introduced by the PNP hierarchy as part of the 45-day SCOUT Training to provide the PNP Personnel with the basic knowledge and skills necessary for SAR operations.

This would be the first batch of the SCOUT trainees that have been required to undergo the SAR training particularly on Basic Life Support (BLS), swift water and open water rescue, among others.

The conduct of the SAR training was the realization of the agreement between Governor Roel Ragay Degamo and PNP Regional Director Danilo Constantino for the provincial government through the PDRRMC to provide SAR skills to the PNP undergoing the SCOUT training.

Gov. Degamo for his part immediately obliged to said request because this is very well within the ambit of the serious efforts of the provincial government in cooperation with various agencies and private organizations to lay down mitigation measures and preparedness for various types of disasters. 

This is the new direction considering that based on experiences the PNP personnel are among the first responders during emergency situation and often times put their lives at risk due to lack of proper knowledge on how to handle the situation.

In fact, one PNP personnel died when a team undergoing the SCOUT training responded to the flash flood incident in Bayawan City October of last year. That kind of incident that the PNP leadership would not like to happen again.

“This is part of our strong commitment to support the programs and activities of the PNP because they are our partners in all aspects of governance especially on disaster management,” Governor Degamo said.