LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Jan. 5 (PNA) — The town’s police force is set to organize a team of Baywatch cops to be deployed in the Lingayen Beach due to spate of drowning incidents lately.
Superintendent Harris Fama, chief of the Dagupan police, said the deployment of Baywatch cop will be done with the support of Mayor Ernesto Castaneda as five persons already drowned there just within a period of 10 days starting before Christmas.
Noting that the Lingayen Beach is being mobbed by tourists year-round, Castaneda is also forming teams of lifeguards and volunteers so that they can immediately respond to any kind of emergencies that may arise in the area.
The latest to drown was Jerald Rodriguez, 21, of Rizal, Nueva Ecija at 1:20 p.m. last January 2, three days after the drowning of Heide Sabangan, 14, of barangay Balay-buaya, Bayambang on New Year’s eve.
Prior to these, three cousins drowned in barangay Maniboc, Lingayen, at about the same spot where a Sudanese student of University of Luzon in Dagupan drowned two weeks before.
Fama said Rodriguez was swimming with two other persons when carried to the deeper portion of the Lingayen Gulf by high waves and strong water undercurrent.
Rodriquez was having an outing with fellow members of the Aglipayan Church when the incident happened.
Fama said he had already assigned two policemen in the beach area who are tasked to warn swimmers to stay in the safer area and to exhort parents to watch their children while swimming.
Most of the children who drowned, he said, were unaccompanied by their parents or adults.
The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) earlier warned that because of the northeasterly winds called “amihan”, occurring mostly at this time of the year, waves are so high and the water undercurrent is so strong, making swimming very dangerous, especially for children.
Fama said his policemen are also giving out leaflets to beachcombers, telling them to adopt all precautionary measures so tragedy will not spoil their beach outing. (PNA)
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