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BY MAE SINGUAY
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Tuesday, April 18, 2017
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BACOLOD City –Pools and resorts must have certified lifeguards. Otherwise, “they have no business operating.”
Mayor Evelio Leonardia ordered the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) to revisit City Ordinance (CO) No. 749.
Approved in 2015, the local law 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 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.
“Lifeguards are supposedly a permanent fixture in a resort,” Leonardia stressed.
According to the mayor, the ordinance must be strictly enforced.
“Resorts are good businesses, so they…can afford to hire lifeguards,” said Leonardia. “If they cannot hire lifeguards, they have no business operating.”
Ensuring safety in pools, resorts, and other swimming and bathing facilities and areas is critical, especially this season when most people have summer excursions, he said.
“I told them (CDRRMO) to revisit the ordinance,” said Leonardia.
Vargas said he will ask the Sangguniang Panlungsod to ensure that pool and resort operators comply with the ordinance when applying for or renewing their “operator’s permit.”
But 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.”
Vargas said he has observed that most of the resorts the public flocked to during the Holy Week had no lifeguards.
Under CO No. 749, operators of pools and resorts must have the following before they can be issued a business permit:
* equipment for rescue, such as craft, paddle, skis, pole, lifebuoy, spinal boards
* accessories/equipment for first responders, such as saline solution, bandages, antiseptics, antihistamines, oxygen kits, splints, rescue blankets, and first-aid kits
* sufficient signage at strategic areas that warn customers/tourists of the hazards and danger posed
* adequate provision of buoys along the swimming/bathing area of the beach/resort
* other instruments that would catch public attention, such as but not limited to portable chair/watchtower, flags, whistles, and the like
* certification of employment of certified lifeguard/s responsible over the beach or resort
The CDRRMO shall issue a certificate of compliance only if pool and resort operators have complied with these requirements.
Wading or “kiddie” pools with an area of not more than 16 square meters and not more than 3 feet deep are exempted from the requirements, but under certain conditions.
“At no time shall any pool, beach/resort, water park, spa, or wading pool be made open without a certified lifeguard,” the ordinance said.
“Hotels, motels and spa with swimming or bathing facilities shall not allow children below 11 years old without adult companion, and night swimming shall not be allowed beyond 10 o’clock in the evening unless certified lifeguards on duty are present and lightings are adequately provided,” it added.
Violators face imprisonment from five to 30 days and fines ranging from P2,000 to P5,000./PN
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