Palace lensman in diving mishap
By Marichu Villanueva
The Philippine Star 10/02/2004

MOALBOAL, Cebu ? The close-in photographer of President Arroyo suffered the bends and lost consciousness while covering her scuba diving in Pescadores, a popular diving spot here.

Gerry Carual, 40, chief of the photo office at Malaca?ang, was spotted floating and almost lifeless after surfacing from the presidential photo shoot. His diving companion from the Presidential Security group (PSG), S/Sgt. Christian Balajadia pulled the unconscious Carual toward a nearby speedboat to take him ashore for emergency resuscitation.

Carual was administered first aid for drowning victims on board the MV Pampanga of the Philippine Coast Guard anchored at Pescadores for the President?s scuba-diving trip. He suffered the diver?s usual accident or bend, a condition wherein the
diver has difficulty breathing due to sudden ascent to the surface.

After five hours inside the decompression chamber to remove the bubbles from his lungs after imbibing sea water while struggling for breath, Carual was declared out of danger last night and was discharged by the PSG doctors.

Carual has undergone scuba-diving training by the PSG and has, in fact, qualified to be a member of the Philippine Association of Divers Inc. "Natiyempuhan lang ako. Pero kasama sa trabaho ?yan," Carual quipped, saying such mishaps are part of the job.

He has also accompanied Mrs. Arroyo in her scuba diving in Tubattaha Reef in Palawan last year.

Carual told The STAR that his constant movement while taking deep sea photos of the President exhausted his 3,000 PSI oxygen tank. By the time he surfaced after shooting his photos, he said, he was already running out of oxygen and eventually passed out.

Carual said the President learned later about the incident and checked on his condition. At the time of the incident, the President was 60 to 80 feet under the sea with her personal diving instructor named Gigi and close-in PSG diving escorts, namely Maj. Potenciano Camba and police major Lilian Castillo.

Cabinet members Energy Secretary Vicente Perez and Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap along with Mirant International chief executive officer Marce Fuller also joined Mrs. Arroyo in her scuba diving that day.

Award-wining video director Marissa Florendo, who megged Muro Ami, a Filipino movie about illegal diving/fishing by minors, took an underwater video shoot of the presidential scuba diving.

Carual flew three days ahead of the President, who arrived here last Wednesday, to precisely practice for the dry run of her latest diving sortie supposedly to promote "eco-tourism" in this famous diving spot in Cebu. But he said he was not able to do so when he found out that rental for diving gear at Pescadores was at an exorbitant $40 a day. He had to rent diving gear in Manila at the last minute, which arrived on the same day he would dive with the President.

His fellow photographers from the private media ribbed him that he lost consciousness when he surfaced because a merman (syokoy) can breathe only in the water.

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