Sports Eye
Mayor Bona scrapped Werweran’s tradition
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
THE fiesta celebration of my town, Mangaldan, this year started in mid-January and will end on March 8. Like in the past two years during the administration of our Mayor Bona de Vera Parayno, a lot of activities were organized like the Senior, Balikbayan, Barangay Nights, Kalutan ed Dalan, cultural festival, sports competitions, to name some, which have all become part of a tradition every time we celebrate our fiesta days. But like the past two years, there’s one that was missing again for the third consecutive time – the time-honored tradition of bicycle racing, the Weweran ed Mangaldan. She broke that tradition and we, the Mangaldan cyclists together with cycling enthusiasts are aghast at what she has done to it.
The “Werweran ed Mangaldan,” the 26th year-old one-day cycling road race called (originally called Mangaldan Cycling Grand Prix founded by the late Mayor Macario G. Ydia) had become so well-known in the country that the big guns in Philippine cycling came to the fiesta to participate. It was so popular that the race’s fans and retired cyclists now based in Guam, Hawaii, mainland U.S.A. and Netherlands are equally disappointed with the decision of Mayor Bona to discontinue the tradition. I don’t know why she opted to scrap it and I can only surmise that my town’s chief executive today is not really a fan of cycling or is probably against cycling as a sports event in spite of the many national honors brought to the town by to the town’s homegrown cyclists. Perhaps, these don’t mean a thing to her.
I was born, raised and educated in Mangaldan and being a sports-minded person aside from being sports reporter and columnist, I have been following the sports careers of many to this day. I was always ready to offer an advice or tips for the improvement of their athletic capabilities, particularly in cycling which is my forte. I did all that for our Pangasinan riders but first and foremost to our Mangaldan cyclists believing in the adage that “Charity begins at home.”
Many became champions in their own right, among them Cesar Catambay of barangay Malabago, the Carino brothers Samson and Ruben of barangay Landas, Emeterio Natavio and Alex Lopez of barangay Guesang who won gold and silver medals in the Southeast Asia Games. In fact, no other protégées of other towns had equaled or exceeded my town’s co-cyclists achievements. Without sounding conceited, we, the Mangaldan cyclists (including this writer-cyclist of barangay Buenlag) had won many national Tours. The latest victors were the youngsters Carino siblings Daniel and Joshua of barangay Landas who finished fourth and sixth overall, respectively, in the just concluded 2016 Ronda Pilipinas Mindanao leg.
So, to the Mayor and her consultants, can you name other athletes in the town and in other sports that brought honor as big as what we, your Mangaldan cyclists, had given the town? We doubt if you can, because I believe there’s none after us. Nonetheless, while it is the mayor’s prerogative to decide what activity should and should not be held, we’d like her know as well that it’s also our prerogative as voters not to support her reelection for discontinuing Werweran.
It’s payback time for breaking the town’s Werweran tradition.
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: And Jesus Christ said “For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.” 1 TIMOTHY 6: 10
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