ERUF to open Mandaue training center

CEBU, Philippines - The Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation is set to open its new training center designed to train the community to be resilient and knowledgeable in giving first aid, especially in times of disasters.

The inauguration of the training center is in line with the organization's 29th anniversary celebration.

The training center, which is scheduled for inauguration at four this afternoon, is located along Mantawi Drive, Mandaue City.

The training center has five classrooms. Each classroom can accommodate 24 trainees.

According to Nagiel Bañacia, spokesman of ERUF, the organization and the City of Mandaue signed an agreement allowing the use of the 5,000-square meter lot for the training center. The training center will also be used for 25 years.

Bañacia also said that the construction of the training center amounted to P15 million while the equipment were donated by local and international entities.

Medardo Batiller, ERUF's operations director, said that they chose to build the training center in Mandaue because it is where ERUF started.

"The place that we are now, this is our base before… we will be coming back to where we started," Batiller said.

Batiller said that ERUF, which was then Mandaue Emergency Rescue Unit, was created during the time of the late Mandaue Mayor Demetrio Cortes Sr.

However, after the EDSA Revolution, MERU, which was the only rescue unit in the Philippines, was disbanded. The officials, who also sat during the Marcos regime, were replaced.

In 1986, Herminio Cortes, lawyer Richard Sison, Dr. Rodulfo Bigornia, Antonio Dy, and Engineer Richard Li, reformed the now ERUF.

Since its establishment, ERUF has now trained 93,445 individuals, excluding those who were listed in their lost records.

ERUF has also trained 57 barangays in Cebu, 27 barangays in Mandaue, and one both in Lapu-Lapu and Consolacion, Cebu.

Mona Li, wife of Engineer Li, said that with the new training center, they are able to fulfill the dream of the paramedics to establish an avenue where they could teach people on how to respond to the needs of others, particularly those who were affected by disasters.

"It has been the dream sa mga founders, sa mga members, sa mga paramedics nga one of these days, naa gyud ta'y training center," Li said. — (FREEMAN)