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By SHIELA MAE BUTLIG
Correspondent

A CAPITOL consultant yesterday said the worker who died during a rescue drill on Friday merely volunteered to help members of the rescue team, and that he didn’t have a role in that training to begin with.

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Josefino Bascug, a capitol consultant for economics, environment and rescue drill operations, said the late Allan Gaylawan helped in Friday’s rescue drill on a “voluntary” basis, and no one ordered him to help out.

Bascug said the drill was facilitated by the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (PDRRMO).

“Ang PDRRMO ang nag-facilitate but Gaylawan was not a participant either. He was there to help only,” said Bascug.

Bascug said Gaylawan helped by merely giving out signals to rescue team members undergoing training, and then he climbed the reservoir.

But a March 20 press release from the capitol quoted Gov. Yevgeny Vincente Emano as acknowledging that Gaylawan was an actual participant in the rescue training. A part of the press release reads: “… even in his (Gaylawan) sickness he was able to participate in the rescue training.”

The capitol press release also suggested that Gaylawan did not just help in facilitating the training but was among those who were training to improve their rescue skills.

Emano was quoted as saying: “Iya gayud gihatag iyang kaugalingon. Taliwala nga adunay gibati nagpadayon kini arong lamang madugangan pa ang iyang kahanas particular na ang pag-rescue. Apan subo kita sa nahitabo nakabsan kini sa hinulamang kinabuhi.”

The 53-year old Gaylawan passed out on top of the reservoir at the back of the capitol in what appeared to be a heart attack.

“He had been in action for the past year with PDRRMO. I think it was a heat stroke that got him,” said Bascug, noting the high temperature and humidity that day.

Bascug noted that Gaylawan was a Navy reservist who had a passion for rescue work, the reason why he had “volunteered” to share his knowledge and help out in the training of capitol’s rescue group.

The other day, Bascug told this paper that members of the PDRRMO have undergone annual medical examinations.

But the PDRRMO’s acting chief, Fernando Vincent Dy, earlier told this paper that the rescue workers have not been required to undergo medical examinations, and that they were aware that there were risks in joining the PDRRMO. Dy also said there was no need to make a medical certificate a requirement before anyone gets admitted to the capitol rescue group.

This paper checked with the capitol’s human resources management office and was told by its head, Jessica Galindo, that Gaylawan had no medical certificate in the office’s file.

Galindo explained that Gaylawan was a “job order” worker who was not required to submit a medical certificate.

She said there was no employer-employee relationship in Gaylawan’s case.

Meanwhile, Bascug said the PDRRMO is headed by a man who is more than qualified for the position. He said Dy is a registered nurse who received trainings on disaster preparedness from the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), and United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP).

Bascug himself is an OCD-certified disaster risk reduction management trainer who contributed and wrote disaster management plans for Misamis Oriental. (with  reports from nitz arancon and herbie gomez)

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