Cebu has another go-to group during times of disaster. A start-up emergency responder group composed of young professionals and college students has been offering emergency response services.
The Rescue Operation Volunteers and Emergency Responders Corp., or ROVER, is registered with the Security Exchange Commission as a non-stock corporation, officially started last June 2018.
ROVER started as a group of friends that belong to different outdoor enthusiast clubs sharing common advocacy of helping others by sharing their knowledge and skills.
It is a free-standing composite emergency light response search and rescue unit with a purpose to respond to disasters, emergencies, and other major calamities within Cebu. They are categorized as part of the Civilian Volunteers Organization (CVO), and a non-partisan entity.
Its mission is to provide the highest quality and up-to-date emergency medical services available to the communities they serve, as well as facilitate first aid education and basic life support training.
ROVER’s core values are Respect for Others; a Sense of Ownership; Volunteerism; Education and Training; and Resilience.
Some of their members are former Red Cross volunteers, mountaineers, bushcraft and survival practitioners, and licensed amateur radio operators. Current members are composed of professional individuals with specific skills in the field of medical, education, finance, engineering, and information technology.
ROVER started with 24 all professional members. However, when the group started training college students, most of them eventually decided to join the group. Presently, they have 51 active members. At the same time, most of its officers and members are active reservists of the Philippine Air Force.
The initial plan of the founding members for ROVER was to be stand-by medics and communicators for big private or public events only. However, there were individuals that took notice of our services and requested to conduct first aid and basic life support training for their organization. Thus, the tag line or what they call their duty which is “Uncompromising Safety and Readiness” was coined.
In fact, ROVER already conducted training on first aid and basic life support to a barangay as requested by their Barangay Captain here in Cebu. In addition, the group also conducted similar training every weekend at a technical school in Mandaue City.
The training ROVER offers for individuals and companies include Basic First Aid (BFA); Basic Life Support (BLS); Outdoor 101; Wilderness First Aid (WFA); Bush Craft and Survival Skills; Motor Vehicular Accident (MVA) Helmet Removal; Basic Vehicle Crash Rescue Extrication; Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Operation; and Other Disaster Preparedness Training.
The group’s training and other activities that were lined up were put on hold during the lockdown as a result of the pandemic.
With the restrictions of movements lifted, some individuals have expressed interest in joining the group.
The group is continuously improving its operations through training, state-of-the-art rescue tools acquisition, and member preparation to provide the best possible emergency patient care and community service.
Since ROVER is just a start-up volunteer group, it has limited available equipment and logistics is always a challenge. Thus, they are continuously looking for kind donors for support so they could meet the growing demand for their volunteer services.
The officers of Rover are president John Carl G. Ngujo, a nurse by profession; Engr. Justin Ianne P. Abella (vice president); Angelie May Y. Cabanilla (secretary); Caesar Noel E. Salvan (treasurer); Ronald C. Arinas (auditor); and Sheree Mae B. Brizo (press relation officer).
Those interested to join or helping provide response tools and materials to ROVER can send an email to rover.emergencyrescue@gmail.com or contact mobile numbers 0916-246-2119 (Globe) and 256-4519 (landline).
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