Marine officer dies after physical fitness test

An officer of the Philippine Marines died Wednesday after undergoing a physical fitness test required for his promotion, a military official said. Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Vincent Teodoro, a 43-year-old Marine Corps operations officer, died at 7 a.m. after he did push-ups, sit-ups and a 3.2-kilometer run as part of his requirements for promotion, Armed Forces Special Services chief Colonel Agane Adriatico said. Adriatico added that Teodoro, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1989, had passed the test and was on his way to his car when he suddenly collapsed. "Kinausap pa niya ‘yung ibang kasama niya doon bago siya nagpunta sa kotse at nagcollapse. Medyo tinutusok-tusok na nga raw niya ‘yung dibdib niya noon," Agane told reporters. Teodoro was then rushed to the Camp Aguinaldo hospital, where doctors tried but failed to revive him, Adriatico said. "Sabi ng doktor, inatake raw sa puso... Nabigla nga kami. Kung walang practice, talagang hindi kaya ‘yun. Knowing Col. Teodoro, we didn’t expect that," he said. In April last year, candidate soldier Ericson Padua died in Isabela supposedly due to heat stroke also after doing strenuous physical exercises. The incident prompted military to order its trainers to assess the temperature first before conducting outdoor trainings. [See: Army training hours moved after trainee succumbs to heat stroke in Isabela] — with Andreo Calonzo/RSJ, GMANews.TV