Press Release
May 23, 2016

Senate OKs first aid trainings for elementary, HS students

The Senate today approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to require all elementary and high school students to be trained in first-aid lessons.

The bill is among the pending legislation passed by the Senate before both houses of Congress will convene as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to canvass the votes for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the May 9 elections.

Senator Pia S. Cayetano, co-author and sponsor of Senate Bill No. 3204, otherwise known as the Basic Life Support Training in Schools Act, said the measure aimed to equip students with the necessary knowledge and basic skills to respond to health emergencies.

According to Cayetano, "in neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore, it is already a practice to provide basic life support training in schools and communities. Basic life support is a lifesaving emergency medical procedure that is simple to learn and perform."

She said students would be taught basic life support through programs developed by the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) or Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) using nationally-recognized, evidence- based guidelines for emergency cardiovascular care.

Basic education schools shall also incorporate basic life support training as part of the schools' comprehensive health and physical education curriculum, according to the proposed bill.

Under the measure, students who successfully completed the basic life support course would be given a certification for their training by the school principal, or any other competent school authority.

The Senate also approved on third and final reading a measure seeking to establish a new science and technology university in Misamis Oriental, by merging two existing schools within the province.

Cayetano, chairperson of the Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, said that House Bill No. 6144 provided for the merging of Mindanao University of the Science and Technology (MUST) and the Misamis Oriental State College of Agriculture and Technology (MOSCAT) into the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTSP), the first of its kind in the province.

She said the two merged schools would combine their facilities and resources, and "raise the current standard of higher public education, and promote an efficient centralized system of education that will benefit the students."

The USTSP, Cayetano said, would offer undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate courses in the fields of mathematics, science and technology, engineering and agriculture.

Meanwhile, the Senate also passed House Bill No. 2817 seeking to separate the Cagasat National High School - Magsaysay Annex in Barangay Magsaysay, Municipality of Cordon, Isabela from the Cagasat National High School into an independent national high school to be known as Cordon National High School.

Cayetano said that the schools had complied with the guidelines laid down by the Department of Education. (MaeJoy Albano-Miranda)

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