ILOILO CITY — The top cop of Western Visayas on Monday successfully crossed the 2.5-kilometer Iloilo-Guimaras strait along with around 40 other swimmers on Monday.
Chief Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag, Regional Director of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 6, made history as the first star rank official of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to cross the strait.
With total time of two hours and 29 minutes, Binag completed the swim through the waters of Iloilo City and island province of Guimaras, taking off from Fort San Pedro to Jordan Ro-Ro (roll-on roll-off) Port.
In a closing ceremony, Binag shared how challenging the race was that he even drank water from the sea for several times because of the strong water current.
But he was elated for successfully finishing the swim, attributing it to the Lord.
“This is not for me. This is for my men, my troops and the advocacy that goes with this swimming,” Binag stressed.
Dubbed as the “1st RD PRO-6 Swim for a Cause”, the activity was part of the initiatives of the Regional Advisory Council for Police Transformation and Development 6 (RACPTD6) to gather funds for the benefit of policemen in Western Visayas who were killed and wounded in action.
It also aims to help promote destinations in Guimaras and raise public awareness on the preservation of clean and safe waterways in the region.
PRO-6 spokesperson Supt. Joem Malong said the total fund raised for the activity reached PHP255,470.
Aside from the history made by Binag, Malong said it is also the first for PRO-6 to gather most number of swimming enthusiasts from the islands of Panay, Guimaras and Negros with a total of 40 swimmers, 14 of them were policemen.
Meanwhile, Guimaras Governor Samuel Gumarin expressed his congratulations to Binag for conquering the record.
“Conquering certain record is hard but you tried,” he said.
Gumarin also expressed thanks for conducting the activity in the island province as it helped promote their tourism, just in time for their yearly celebration of Manggahan Festival slated May 11-22.
The activity was participated by representative-swimmers from the Aklan Police Provincial Office (PPO); Antique PPO; Capiz PPO; Guimaras PPO; Iloilo City PO; Iloilo PPO; Bacolod City PO; Negros Occidental PPO; and PRO-6.
First to finish the race was 14-year old Lance Jiro Tacsagon, representing Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office who conquered the Iloilo-Guimaras strait in 42 minutes.
Following him were April Jane Eslabon from the regional headquarters, who finished the race in 43 minutes; and Kaira Charlize Bordios from Bacolod City Police Office, who finished the race in 45 minutes. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
