When planning a trip to enjoy aquatic recreation, one needs to be aware of safety, whether it be to the beach, a river area, swimming pool or water park, all have a certain amount of danger, as do most things we do in life, even simple things like travel and transportation.

Under RA-9993 and the corresponding Philippine Coast Guard memorandum circulars, all Coastal Beach Resorts, must have trained and certified Lifeguards, these can also be trained by organizations duly accredited by the Philippine Coast Guard to train and certify lifeguards, such as Zambales Lifesaving inc. (ZLI); however, there appears to be a lack of enforcement and many resorts do not comply, in fact there are also a large number of facilities that operate in the summer months without regulation or the correct registration with local authorities, such as Mayors permits, BIR registration or insurance.

For your and your families / companions safety you should check if the facility you have chosen, is in fact operating legally, as if not, and you are unlucky enough to have a incident, you may be left with no assistance of any type.
Business licencess, DTI / SEC registration Mayors Permit, BIR registration should all be displayed at the front office / reception area. Also, ask if they have a "Philippine Coast Guard certified Lifeguard". There should be a copy of the certification available and generally most wear a corresponding uniform. In fact, the more responsible resort operators generally use a system of designating a specific patrolled swimming area, generally marked with the International red and yellow flags. This also keeps other dangers away from swimmers, such as boats, surfboards etc.

On this page we will give you some suggestions as to what to be aware of and how some natural hazards can easily be avoided, but first a short history.

Zambales has a long history in supporting water safety for both visitors and locals alike. Through the efforts of a now retired Australian Resort Operator, Mr. Roger Bound, himself still a member of Cudgen Heads Surf Life Saving Club and an instructor in water safety, commenced in 2002, using the Zambales Resort Owners Association Inc. (ZamROA), an association of resort owners and operators he had been instrumental in forming after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991, to commence a training program to try to have all resorts in Zambales have personnel trained as lifeguards. This changed a number of times as better training programs became available. The program originally started using the Philippine National Red Cross, which later in 2009 became an NGO as per RA-10072, at which time a MOA was drawn up between a newly formed group, called Philippine Life Saving Society (PLS) a member of the International Life Saving Society and supported by Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) and the resort owners association, which was instrumental in having SLSA send an Instructor to Zambales in 2011 to conduct the first ever "Aquatic Search and Rescue Instructors Course" held in Zambales by Mr. Murray Copas of SLSA (NSW Branch) at Mr. Bound's resort in Botolan Zambales. This resulted in Zambales now having duly certified Lifesaving Instructors. This training continued until Mr. Bound's retirement from the resort industry at the end of 2013. In 2014, ZamROA dropped the lifeguard training program; however, Mr. Bound and other previously trained instructors then formed Zambales Lifesaving Inc. (ZLI), in 2015 as non-stock, non-profit NGO, staffed by volunteers, to keep the program alive. ZLI is accredited by the Philippine Coast Guard, the Provincial Government of Zambales and are partnered with the Australian Lifesaving Academy (NSW) and Surf Life Saving Australia (Far North Coast) so as to deliver peak training abilities.
It is believed that Zambales Lifesaving Inc. was the first organization to be officially accredited by the Philippine Coast Guard to train and certify Lifeguards under RA-9993 in 2016 and to date has trained more than 300 lifeguards.

Some safety tips:

There are also a number of Videos on water safety available here.

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