Lapu-Lapu boosts lifesaving skills as tourism, maritime traffic grow

CEBU CITY — With Lapu-Lapu City serving as a major entry point for tourists and a hub for beach and marine activities, the city is expanding efforts to equip non-medical personnel with skills that could make a difference during emergencies.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Around 1,000 participants joined a hands-only cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and automated external defibrillator (AED) awareness session at the Hoops Dome on September 12 as part of the Sagip CPR initiative of Bell-Kenz Pharma Inc.

The activity was conducted with the Lapu-Lapu City Government, through its City Health Office, and the Philippine Coastwise Shipping Association (PCSA).

Participants included shipping company executives and crew members, city government workers, barangay health workers, community groups and advocates for persons with disabilities.

The program comes as Sagip CPR expands its reach across Cebu’s tourism and maritime sectors, recognizing that employees and ordinary bystanders are often the first to encounter a person in distress before professional medical responders arrive.

Bell-Kenz previously brought the program to the hospitality industry in partnership with the Hotel, Resort and Restaurant Association of Cebu Inc. (HRRACI), training personnel such as lifeguards, pool and beach staff, security officers and guest service workers.

A key component of that training was a drowning chain of survival, which covers prevention, identifying signs of distress, providing flotation, removing a victim from the water safely and delivering appropriate care.

The lessons are particularly applicable in Lapu-Lapu, where resorts, beaches and marine attractions form an important part of the local tourism industry.

Responders are encouraged to use the “throw, don’t go” approach when possible, providing flotation devices or other suitable objects instead of immediately entering potentially hazardous waters. Reaching aids and boats may also be used by trained personnel when a rescue is necessary.

For an unresponsive person who is not breathing normally, participants are taught to call for emergency assistance, start CPR and operate an AED when one is available.

The initiative also extends to the country’s maritime transport system through the Sagip CPR Nautical Highway program. The PCSA represents more than 50 domestic shipping companies operating over 800 vessels that collectively carry an estimated 28 million passengers annually.

Bell-Kenz corporate communications and public affairs head Patrick Larraga said a first responder at sea may simply be a crew member or passenger who has learned basic lifesaving procedures.

“When professional help cannot reach the scene immediately, or at sea, may not be available for quite some time, a trained person is the critical link that keeps someone alive until help becomes available,” Larraga said.

The push for broader CPR readiness comes amid sustained tourism activity in Cebu. More than 836,595 tourists visited Cebu from January to June, while Central Visayas recorded 6.9 million visitors in 2025, generating P125.9 billion in tourism revenues in 2024.

Lapu-Lapu City Council Committee on Health Chairperson Dr. Emilio Galaroza Jr. encouraged participants to pass on the knowledge they gained.

“Share what you have learned with your families and in your communities,” Galaroza said.

Sagip CPR aims to train one million Filipinos in hands-only CPR as part of its nationwide lifesaving campaign. ###