In the latest Kapihan sa Cordillera Presscon of the Department of Health last March 6, the agency proudly announced that there were no recorded incidents of drowning in the Region for the first quarter of 2024.

This is good news for everyone especially if we are to compare the eight-drowning incident last 2022 and twelve drowning incidents last 2023 as per the data shared by the Philippine Coast Guard-La Union.

According to the study of the World Health Organization (WHO), drowning is the third leading cause of death worldwide, with 236,000 or 7% of the population drowning each year, whereas in the Philippines, 3,604 people die from drowning each year, or an average of 10 Filipinos a day according to data.

Meanwhile, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) 2021, most of the drowning victims and deaths in the country are young people.

“Know the risk of natural water. The sea is dark, it’s unpredictable. We don’t know how deep it is, our seafloor isn’t even. There are sudden depths, there are shallow ones, and there are also parts that are rocky and sharp”, explains CG ENS Ivhanne Rillon, Acting Operations Officer, Philippine Coast Guard – La Union.

Now that the summer season is approaching and people will be visiting the beaches and swimming pools, the public is reminded to be careful and to avoid going into the deep part of the beaches and swimming pools.

The Philippine Coast Guard will be assigning lifeguards to the beaches to increase safety and to respond quickly to any accidents that may occur, especially at the stroke of six o’clock at night.

~Micko Sison~