Case investigator PO2 Julius Balbuena said it was only when they saw Ilano’s body floating on the pool that the other cops realized something was wrong.
Balbuena said Ilano and his colleagues had just completed an assignment as facilitators in a physical fitness training examination at the Northern Police District and decided to celebrate at St. Charbel Executive Village clubhouse pool on Mindanao Avenue in Tandang Sora Friday afternoon.
One of Ilano’s friends pulled him out of the water but it was too late for the policeman, who was assigned to the Quezon City Police District’s Personnel and Human Resource Development Division, Balbuena said.
Balbuena described the 36-year-old Ilano as a good swimmer and said he may have suffered from cramps and drowned. An autopsy still had to be performed to determine the exact cause of death.
Balbuena said a video taken by the facility’s closed-circuit television showed Ilano had swam several laps and was apparently swimming to where his colleagues were when he was stricken.
When he was one-and-a-half meters away from the edge, the policeman appeared to be struggling and flailing in the water but his companions were preoccupied at the poolside and did not notice he was in distress.
“The footage also showed Ilano waving one last time as if asking for help, then he went down,” Balbuena told reporters.
Later, someone noticed a body floating in the pool, and this prompted Ilano’s friend, PO3 Eladio Pamittan, to dive into the water and pull him out.
Balbuena said the victim’s head hit the side of the pool during the rescue.
The police officers tried to resuscitate Ilano and to pump water out from him before rushing him to the J.P. Sioson General Hospital, but it was too late.