MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) will look at possible lapses in the training of the elite Special Action Force (SAF) after a police officer drowned while training for diagnostic combat inside its training facility in Batangas, Police Gen. Oscar Albayalde said Tuesday.
“We will look into it at kailangan imbestigahan iyan. Kung meron kaming pagkukulang we have to improve para maiwasan itong mga pangyayari,” he said in a chance interview at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City.
(We will look into it and we need to investigate that. If we have lapses, we have to improve our procedures to avoid these incidents.)
Patrolman Manny Jose Baldonado, 27, accidentally drowned while training on Sunday morning. SAF instructors immediately applied first aid to him before he was taken to the Metro Balayan Medical Center but he died on arrival.
READ: Cop drowns while in PNP-SAF training in Batangas
SAF training is known for its intense courses as it prepares troopers for high-profile operations, including counter-terrorism efforts against local and international groups.
In April 2018, Police Lieutenant (formerly Inspector) Richardson Urmatan also died while in a water rescue training course for SAF in Bataan.
READ: Cop dies during water rescue training in Bataan
Albayalde said the PNP is also looking at possible improvements on the safety precautions being enforced during SAF trainings.
“Tinitingnan natin ‘yan of course, ‘yung mga safety procedures natin, kung ano ‘yung mga precautions natin, kung ano ang ginawa doon. Baka mamaya nga we need to improve our safety precautions that we need to put up there,” he said.
(We are looking at the safety procedures, the precautions observed there. Maybe later on we see that we need to improve safety precautions that we need to set in place.) Editor: Julie Espinosa