11 PCG personnel relieved over apprentice seaman’s death

ELEVEN Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) personnel have been ordered relieved over the drowning of a PCG apprentice seaman during a training exercise off Cavite last week.

“Pending investigation, they are on hold, they are relieved. The 11 personnel are ordered investigated,” PCG spokesman Rear Adm. Armando Balilo said.

Balilo said the 11, including members of the PCG Maritime Safety and Service Command and a medical team, are currently in a “holding area.”

The fatality, Apprentice Seaman Mori Caguay, died during a Water Maritime SEarch and REscue (WASAR) Training last November 16 in Sangley Point, Cavite City.

The family of Caguay said the victim may have been a victim of hazing, an allegation denied by Balilo.

“That’s not true,” Balilo said without elaborating, pending the probe.

Also last November 16, another PCG member died during a WASAR training in Palawan. The PCG did not identify the victim but said he had the rank of apprentice seaman.

The two incidents prompted the PCG to order the suspension of all of the PCG’s WASAR training throughout the country.

“The investigation on the two incidents is ongoing,” said Balilo.

The National Bureau of Investigation yesterday said it is probing the death of Caguay.

“The incident involving the death of PCG personnel Mori Caguay is currently being handled by the NBI-Death Investigation Division,” the agency said in a statement. – With Ashzel Hachero