By Flora Mae Garrote
A Boholano who is connected with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is among the safety practitioners who got an accreditation from the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Assistant Regional Director for Operation (ARDO) Pepe Rebusa of BFP-Caraga region, who hails from Tagbilaran City, recently received his certificate of accreditation as Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) practitioner from BWC Director Brenda Villafuerte in a simple ceremony at OSH Center in Diliman, Quezon City.
The accreditation was awarded to Rebusa after he had undergone the prescribed training, and written and oral examinations conducted by the bureau which also evaluated his years of experience in the filed of OSH.
Rebusa was once assigned as city fire marshal of Tagbilaran and provincial fire marshal of Bohol.
The creation of Tagbilaran City Emergency Medical Response Operation Team (TCEMROT), which is now actively involved in community emergency health care and rescue, was his brainchild.
He was a recipient of foreign scholarship grants in Disaster Management and Fire Safety Technology in Japan, and in Engineering in the United States.
The Safety Organization of the Philippines Incorporation (SOPI) has conferred to him, two outstanding national awards in recognition to his honest commitment and achievement in public safety.
Rebusa appreciated the formulation of the OSH standards administered and that has DOLE enforced to safeguard the worker's social and economic well-being and his physical safety and health.
The continuing programs that the BWC carries out will also increase the supply and competence of personnel qualified in promoting and maintaining a safe and conducive working environment in both private and public sector.