Taguig rescue team gets new lifeboats, sonar gadget

The Taguig Rescue Unit looks forward to fewer tasks that have to be done mano-a-mano, thanks to the new set of state-of-the-art equipment the city government acquired on Tuesday.

These included two rubber boats (a 12-seater and an eight-seater), 10 wooden flood boats, an ambulance, a fire truck, and two all-terrain amphibious vehicles.

The rescue group also received two units each of hydraulic tools such as spreaders, cutters and ramjacks which can be used in earthquake and road accident missions, along with a sonar-capable gadget for locating people trapped under the rubble.

Ronald Galicia, officer-in-charge of the 34-member team, said the equipment turned over on Tuesday cost P26 million and represented the first tranche of the city’s total purchases worth P104 million under its disaster preparedness program of Mayor Lani Cayetano.

“We expect more vehicles and tools to arrive later this month, including a camera also used by the US Navy Seals which can be inserted through rubble to see if there are persons trapped underneath,” Galicia said.

Except for the wooden flood boats which were made in the Philippines, all the other vehicles and equipment were purchased from the United States, Canada, Italy and Germany.

“Before, we only had four wooden flood boats which were only borrowed from the MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) and only one rubber boat borrowed from the Taguig police. We also had only two amphibian vehicles,” he said.

Taguig rescuers are on-call for emergencies in 28 barangays, including 15 flood-prone villages along Laguna de Bay. But due to lack of equipment, they barely coped with the magnitude of the disaster following Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in 2009 or Typhoon “Falcon” last year, Galicia recalled.

“We had to do the rescue operations manually. Being trained especially for water rescue missions, we just put our skills to good use,” Galicia said.

Often, he added, they had to carry evacuees on their backs or tie a rope around their waist before pulling them to safety.

“Our rescue operations during Typhoon Falcon, for example, took three days. With these new equipment, I think we can do three days’ work in just one day,” he said.