Include swimming in curriculum - Palmones

TAGAYTAY CITY, Philippines — Students should be taught swimming at schools since the country is prone to floods and tropical cyclones, a lawmaker said. Agham party-list Rep. Angelo Palmones said swimming should be part of the curriculum as this would help reduce flood-related casualties. “Swimming should be mandatory. Swimming is a basic survival skill that has to be developed,” Palmones said during the Resilience Project Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction and Management seminar last Friday here. Palmones noted that about 20 tropical cyclones visit the Philippines every year. He said it is but fitting that Filipinos, whose country is an archipelago, know how to swim. The lawmaker also cited the need for the Philippine National Police to form river patrols that could assist people affected by floods. Palmones said he has filed a bill making swimming a mandatory subject in elementary and high schools. He also urged journalists in the seminar to help the government in advocating disaster preparedness.