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TAGUIG CITY, July 21, 2026 (SDN) — Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or what is commonly called “CPR”, is a lifesaver!

CPR can make the difference between being alive and dead. You see in movies being applied by someone to an unconscious person. Like in a beach when a beach-goer’s heart stops beating, or stops breathing. Either from drowning, or due to any reason that made the heart stop beating, or stop breathing.

That’s in reel life, in the realm of make-believe.

But believe it or not, CPR can truly save lives. In some circumstances in real life, which is wholly more important, you may see or learn about CPR being applied to a drowning victim. Perhaps unknown to many, “pre-hospital CPR efforts are usually beneficial if carried out effectively up to 40 minutes,” a search on cyberspace shows.

One recent example of CPR, though unsuccessful, was on the standout cager Rene Clert Noja Baterbonia, a native of Talacogon, Agusan del Sur, Northeastern Mindanao, the ill-fated student-athlete of Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), the basketball player who succumbed to a drowning incident on a beach resort in Dipaculao, Aurora province, on June 8, 2026. He and his Ateneo teammate Nigerian Chukwuemeka Divine Adili died in the drowning tragedy.

Documented news reports showed Baterbonia’s teammates and responders applying CPR on him on the beach and rescued-breathing him after he was claimed from the sea.

But an unnamed female responder, news reports said, interrupted and stopped the CPR, saying the cager should be brought to the hospital.

Alas, he died, along with his dreams of a better life for his mother and father, and his siblings, his heartbroken family. Would he have survived if the CPR was not interrupted? No one will ever find out for sure. Maybe, his was already a loss case. Suffice to say that CPR is a vital first aid on drowning victims and those hit by sudden cardiac arrest / heart attack.

To hammer down further the need for Filipinos to learn how CPR is applied, the Philippine Heart Association (PHA) has been doing the rounds of the country to train as much Filipinos as possible and show them how the lifesaving process is correctly performed.

Saturday, July 17, was no different, it was another day for teaching CPR to Filipinos during PHA’s 3rd National CPR Day Celebration: ZapPinas 2026 Maging CPR-Ready Na! Isang Barangay Patungong CPR-Ready Philippines held at the Barangay Covered Court of Barangay Rizal, Taguig City, Metro Manila.

Along with teaching CPR starting with the country’s smallest administrative unit, the barangay, or village, the PHA also has been advocating the installation of Automated Electric  Defibrillator (AED) gadgets in public places and spaces.

This time the heart organization led by new PHA President Dr. Aurora Muriel S. Gamponia, the heart-friendly group of professional medical practitioners brought their CPR campaign to Barangay Rizal, giving hundreds of residents an opportunity to see and do it on rubber mannequins.

PHA: CVD still top killer of Filipinos

And hopefully, when a situation comes that they find themselves in the right time, right place, right circumstance to apply their training, they would be able to help and save a life — be it of a drowning victim, or anyone hit by cardiac arrest. After all, that’s what PHA’s nationwide advocacy on CPR is being done for.

Going back a bit, SDN – SciTech & Digital News learned the PHA started celebrating July 16 as “National CPR Day”, which it did through a nationwide simultaneous Mass CPR training from 2016, and doing it through the years.

That was right after the enactment of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 10871, also dubbed the Samboy Lim Law, “The Basic Life Training in Schools Act” — the CPR Act, from a bill introduced in 2015 by Congressman Joseller “Yeng” Guiao, presently still the coach of Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).

The then-Sen. Sonny Angara sponsored the counterpart bill in the Senate, as he cited Guiao, Pampanga representative, for the CPR Act, which mandates a hands-on CPR training made inclusive in the K-12 curriculum in Lim’s honor.

Recall that the popular PBA player collapsed on a court in November 2014 while playing a basketball game with his fellow hoops professionals. Guiao’s bill institutionalized CPR training following Lim’s heart-related demise.

And in March 2024, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. declared every July 17 as National CPR Day, giving official blessing to the PHA’s advocacy. Fact is that the PHA already launched its CPR-ReadyPH campaign earlier in 2015.

Figures showed the PHA in 10 years — from 2015 to 2025 — has already CPR-trained at least 2.1 million Filipinos in several training activities.

Pediatrician-Cardiologist Dr. Gamponia reiterated the PHA’s call on Filipinos to be CPR-ready.

“Iniimbita namin ang lahat na matuto ng CPR kasi ito ang magliligtas sa maraming tao, lalo na kasama ang pamilya, kasama ang komunidad, maka-save ng buhay,” the PHA president tells the public in an exclusive interview with SDN – SciTech & Digital News.

(Translation: We are inviting everyone to train on CPR because this is what will save many people, especially members of the family, fellow community members.)

She pointed out that it’s because it’s the heart that beats and gives life.

“It’s important that we are mindful of the food we eat, meaning, healthy food, healthy lifestyle, doing physical activity, not just sitting down,” the pediatrician-heart doctor says. “There’s need for activities daily, proper sleep, don’t smoke, don’t drink alcoholic beverages, don’t do vape because it has chemicals. It’s important to take the right medicine, for maintenance,” she says.

Doubling down on her message, Dr. Gamponia called on Filipinos to maintain heart health, the body’s health to prevent being sick. “Kaya sumali sa adbokasiya ng (so participate in the advocacy of the) Philippine Heart Association.”

The PHA president reminded Filipinos that heart ailments commonly called cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still the No. 1 killer of Filipinos.

This stark fact is confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which pointed out that “CVD is responsible for more than 32% of all deaths in the Philippines … estimated that CVD is responsible for 45% of all deaths among Filipino adults.” (per internet search)

“CPR manually pumps blood to the brain and vital organs until medical help arrives”

Guiao, one of the speakers at the PHA event in Barangay Rizal in a separate exclusive interview with SDN – SciTech & Digital News, when asked about Lim’s case, he made clear he is not a medical professional, as he fielded the question.

The champion-winning PBA coach said Lim in appearance was apparently “healthy, had strong body but, perhaps, he had hidden or unknown heart problem.”

Thus, he said, it’s important for everyone to have a checkup often.

He urged everyone to take care of their heart. “Alagaan po natin ‘iyong puso natin. Wala po tayong reserbang puso kasi isa lang po ‘yon puso natin. So, exercise po tayo ng maayos, kumain po tayo ng maayos, parati po tayong magpapa-checkup, alagaan natin ang kalagayan ng mga puso po natin.”

(Translation: Let’s take care of our heart. We don’t have a reserve heart because our heart is only one. So, we should exercise properly, eat properly, we should have checkup often, we should be mindful of our heart’s condition.”

Guiao adds: “Pag may naramdaman na po tayo na hindi normal, takbo na po tayo sa doktor at mag-patingin tayo.”

(Translation: If we feel something that’s not normal, go quickly to a doctor and have a checkup.)

To bring the point home on the importance of being CPR-ready and placing of AEDs in public places and spaces, the PHA cited figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showing ischemic heart disease or coronary heart disease (the CVDs) that 30 Filipinos in 2025 died from heart attacks every 60 minutes and 70,000 of the citizens died from sudden cardiac arrest inside 365 days.

What’s concerning as the PHA seems to warn is that only less than 5% survive CVD, which it said is a glaring contrast to developed countries’ considerably higher rate of survival at 30 to 50 percent.

“Immediate hands-only CPR and early use of AED within the first 4 to 6 minutes can significantly improve survival and help prevent irreversible drain damage,” the PHA points out in its media briefer.

A further search on cyberspace detailed how CPR, “a lifesaving emergency procedure (is) performed when a person’s heart stops beating or they stop breathing.”

The research said the procedure “combines chest compressions and rescue breaths … CPR manually pumps blood to the brain and vital organs until medical help arrives.”

Still further, understanding the three terms in CPR: Cardio refers to the heart; Pulmonary, about the lungs; and Resuscitation, the act of reviving someone from his or her unconsciousness, or apparent death.

CPR is performed to any teen or adult you happen to encounter who collapses suddenly, has no response, not breathing, or just gasping for breath.

Alright, now it’s abundantly clear through the PHA campaign that learning how to perform and apply CPR and how to operate an AED are truly vital in helping save lives! — EDD K. USMAN (√)

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The author:

EDD, a native of Sub-Saharan Africa Buluan/Datu Piang, Maguindanao del Sur, BARMM, college at UST, is a Manila-based journalist for over 40 years (33 years with Manila Bulletin), has five Media Awards (1 with University of the Philippines (UP) 2017 Science Journalism Award), covered and traveled over 40 times abroad), has contributed to Rappler, Business Mirror, Manila Business Insights, Panorama Magazine, Agriculture Magazine, and others, former Manila-based Foreign Correspondent of Saudi Arabia newspapers Saudi Gazette and Riyadh Daily, and The Peninsula (Qatar newspaper), with 2008 East-West Center (EWC) Journalism Seminar in the United States, 2000 Executive IT Seminar in Seoul, South Korea, with three Silver Awards in Photography, writes Muslim and Current Affairs, Enterprise, Science, Tech, Products Launch, and virtually everything under Heaven. (®)