A lawyer of the Commission on Elections assigned in Bohol has set a new record by swimming 24.65 kilometers from Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental to the province of Siquijor on Wednesday.
Ingemar Macarine, election officer of Tubigon, Bohol, took off early Wednesday morning at Silliman Beach in Dumaguete City and swam for 11 hours and 21 minutes, arriving at the Tambisan Port in San Juan, Siquijor before sundown.
The pioneering swim is to promote voters’ registration being conducted by the Comelec for the upcoming Oct. 29 Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections as well as for cleaner seas.
Macarine described Wednesday’s swim as “the most difficult swim ever”, and it had crossed his mind many times to abandon it as the waters turned choppy while midway towards Siquijor.
In a press conference Tuesday here, Macarine said his swim time and direction will depend on the direction of the current, and during Wednesday’s swim, the strong current was towards Mindanao.
He aimed for the municipality of Enrique Villanueva but reached San Juan town in Siquijor instead.
The lawyer said he broke his personal record of 23 kilometers when he attempted to swim from Visayas to Mindanao last May 2014.
The 40-year old lawyer, who hails from Plaridel in Surigao del Norte and who had studied Political Science at Silliman University in Dumaguete City, has a long list of achievements here and abroad being an open water swimmer.
He’s been swimming like this for four years and he says this is a sport that not too many people are enthusiastic about, most likely because of fear of sharks.
But Macarine said that he has not encountered sharks and does not fear them, saying they do not usually attack swimmers unless “you’re bleeding”.
In the Philippines, he says there is less than 10 of them open water swimmers, and there is no organization that governs the “sport”, unlike in other countries.
The Pinoy Aquaman says it takes sheer guts and courage to brave the seas, and proper preparation to be able to accomplish every attempt.
He swims non-stop, with nobody else in the water but him, and only takes about two seconds every 30 minutes for his energy drink.
Macarine took a light breakfast prior to conquering Siquijor because he says it is bad to swim on a full stomach.
He wore a pair of swimming trunks, swimming goggles and sunblock and nothing else.
Pinoy Aquaman said he swims mostly free-style but there are no rules on how to swim or float, in his case, so long as he reaches his destination unaided.
When asked what has pushed him to do this, he replied that he was encouraged to do something different and difficult to attract people to support his advocacies.
He says he is surprised no one has followed in his footsteps as yet.
His wife, two children and his parents pray three days ahead of a swim, and there were times that they would ask him not to, Macarine disclosed.
But the lawyer says it is a passion that he would pursue for as long as he could, but with common sense prevailing that when the swim becomes too dangerous, he would abort it, but try the next time.
His lifetime advocacy is to promote marine environmental protection, clean seas and beaches although Wednesday’s swim is the first to promote the Comelec’s campaign to increase the number of registered voters this year.
Among the recognitions Macarine had received for his daring stunts include Hero of the Environment 2015 given by the World Wildlife Fund Philippines; Outstanding Alumni for Sports 2015 given by Surigao Norte National High School; Outstanding Surigaonon for Sports 2014 given by the Rotary Club of Surigao City; Outstanding Tubignon for Sports 2016 given by the municipality of Tubigon, Bohol; and nominated WOWSA Man of the Year 2015 (3rd placer) for three pioneering marathon swims for the environment in 2015.
Also a triathlon athlete, Macarine has participated in and finished in several ultra-marathons here and abroad such as the Cobra Ironman in Cebu and the Eagleman Ironman in Cambridge, Maryland, USA.
Some of Macarine’s documented swims include the first man to swim from Basul Island to Surigao City (42.km in 2 hours) on Dec. 30, 2013; the first man to swim from Hikdop Island to mainland Surigao City (12.8 km in three hours and 38 minutes in February, 2014; the first man to swim from Alcatraz Island Penitentiary to San Francisco City, California, USA (2.7 kilometers in one hour) on April 7, 2014; attempted to swim from Visayas to Mindanao by swimming from San Ricardo, Southern Leyte to Surigao City, Northern Mindanao, although the swim was unsuccessful because of bad weather, he made a record of swimming 23km in five and a half hours in May 2014; conquered the Babuyan Channel by swimming from Palaui Island to mainland Sta. Ana, province of Cagayan (7.2 km in two hours) on June 15, 2014;
First man to swim from Balicasag Island to Panglao Island, both in the province of Bohol last October 16, 2014 (13.4 km in six hours and 45 minutes); first man to conquer the Hinatuan Passage by swimming from Bucas Grande Island, Socorro, Siargao to Cagdianao, Claver mainland Mindanao (10.5 km in five hours and eight minutes); completed a one-way corssing of the Tañon Strait by swimming 6.54 km in two hours and 13 minutes from the municipality of Santander, Cebu to the municipality of Sibulan, Negros Oriental on February 14, 2015;
Completed a 3.9 km in one hour and 27 minutes one-way crossing from Pescador Island to Moalboal, Cebu on March 15, 2015 after finishing the 21km category of the Kawasan Marathon in Badian, Cebu; completed a 4.7 kilometer, one hour and 55 minutes crossing of the Olanggo Channel from Olanggo Island to Mactan Island, Cebu last July 2014;
The first Filipino to swim the one kilometer Lucky Lake Swim in Lake Lane, Orlando, Florida in the USA in March 2014; the first Filipino to conquer the Chesapeake Bay and the 2nd man in history by swimming 8.1 km from Bay Bridge Marina to Sandy Pointe Park Beach in Annapolis, Maryland, USA on June 9, 2015.
These are only some of the many accomplishments of Macarine who has been tagged as a “pioneer in solo channel swimming in the Philippines” and is the “only Filipino who is consistently swimming in open waters in areas not yet swam”.
The record-setting swim on Wednesday from Dumaguete City to San Juan, Siquijor is part of his preparation for the upcoming feat in August, this year, when he attempts to cross the English channel.
No Filipino has ever swum solo across the English channel. (PNA/JFP)
