CPR Act lapses into law
Angara extols Guiao, PHA
The CPR Act, now known as Republic Act 10871, lapsed into law on July 17, 2016. This came as then Pres. Benigno Simeon Aquino failed to sign it into law before he stepped down from Malacanang this July.
Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, principal author of the CPR law (Senate Bill 3204), extolled former Pampanga Rep. Yeng Guiao, head coach of the Rain or Shine Elasto Painters in the Philippine Basketball Association, Philippine Heart Association (PHA), and other stakeholders “who helped in the passage of this law which is a very vital measure.”
In July 2015, Guiao introduced House Bill 6204 or the CPR Act or “Samboy Lim Bill” to the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture chaired by Rep. Kim Cojuangco.
PHA President Dr. Raul Lapitan lauded Congress and Senate (particularly Reps. Cojuangco and Guiao, Sens. Angara and Pia Cayetano), the family of PBA legend Samboy Lim, represented by the latter’s former wife Atty. Darlene Marie Berberabe and their daughter Jamie Lim, for their extreme support.
Lapitan, the new PHA honcho also added that the PHA Board, especially immediate past president Dr. Alex Junia, deserves a pat on the back for this milestone.
PHA is part of the lobby group that successfully pushed for the drafting of House Bill 6204 and Senate Bill 3204, the “CPR Act which requires basic education students to undergo age-appropriate basic life support training.”
The PHA Board of Directors 2016-2016 – Drs. Junia, president; Lapitan, vice president; Jorge Sison, secretary; Helen Ong-Garcia, treasurer; Nannette Rey, Aurelia Leus and Orlando Bugarin, directors, and Francis Lavapie, chair of the PHA Council on CPR, were in full force in the House and Senate Committee meetings. In all the meetings and hearings, Berberabe was with the PHA doctors.
The PHA Board’s initial meeting with Guiao was arranged by PHA Central Luzon Chapter member Dr. Domicias Albacite, a cabalen of the good congressman.
Guiao and Angara also call RA10871 the Samboy Lim Law because of the case of the basketball legend which precipitated the filing of the bill. Lim collapsed during an exhibition game with fellow PBA bigshots in November 2014. No one among his colleagues knew how to do basic CPR. The trip from Ynares gym to The Medical City took 26 minutes. He fell into a coma for one month. Lim had been out of the hospital but is under the care of nurses 24/7. He undergoes regular therapy and is being visited by doctors in his residence.
Lapitan said that PHA reiterates that “administering 2.5 inches deep, 100-120 chest compressions per minute when someone’s heart stopped beating increases the victim’s survival rate by 25 percent. The procedure keeps vital blood flow to the heart and brain, therefore preventing brain and organ damage.”
He added that “beating the 4-minute window period with CPR could have minimized the damage to Lim’s vital organs.”
Angara told reporters that “young Filipinos may become lifesavers now that we have a law requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation training as part of the country’s basic education curriculum. CPR is an essential lifesaving skill that ordinary citizens and even our youth can be trained to do.”The said measure mandates all public and private basic education schools in the country to make CPR training a requisite prior to graduation.