By Leonardo Micua

 

WITH only a week before the Region 1 Athletic Association (R1AA) meet finally unfurls in San Carlos City on May 14 to 19, defending back-to-back champion Dagupan City, remains a doubtful starter.

Dagupan athletes still doubt at this point whether they will have uniforms to wear after wresting the R1AA crown twice in a row in surprise fantastic performances under Mayor Belen Fernandez’s leadership.

Past city administrations tried but failed to make Dagupan champion in yearly regional athletic meets. The best that Dagupan got was seventh place finish during Mayor Al Fernandez’s term.

Under then Mayor Benjamin Lim, Dagupan, was way down below the standing, but was nevertheless awarded for being best in uniform for going into the games with glowing yellow uniform.

Only Mayor Belen, who aimed to make Dagupan on top of the field, succeeded.

Her initial efforts paid off when Dagupan first garnered a surprise first runner-up finish,  then onto being a champion twice.

That’s why, it hurts the city athletes knowing that they may not make it to this year’s meet due to serious budgetary constraints, after the Dagupan’s 2023 annual budget was reduced into a pulp by an obstructionist Sanggunian, and the reenacted budget does not have funds for sports.

We heard that the Dagupan athletes received their shoes two weeks ago, minus their official uniforms. Apparently, the uniforms could not be ordered early because the city and DepEd city schools division didn’t have the money.

It is, therefore, reassuring that gritty Mayor Belen promised to do a miracle to send the Dagupan athletes to R1AA meet with their full uniforms.

Nonetheless, she cautioned the people of Dagupan against to expect much from our athletes because they had little or no training at all, with no sports gears to use. She thinks it’s practically impossible for the city to retain its back-to-back title.

Fernandez said a second or third place would still be good enough for the city considering the constraints the team faced because of the reenacted budget and the delayed action on the 2023 budget.

Remember that Dagupan won its two titles back-to-back, mainly because of its supremacy in swimming, arnis, gymnastics and boxing.

Hopefully, Dagupan can still maintain its dominance in swimming going by the results of the recent 2023 Bangus Festival’s Mayor’s Cup when Dagupan swimmers prevailed over 17 top swimming teams in Northern Luzon, Central Luzon and Manila.

The decision to hold the R1AA swimming competition in Dagupan City’s Olympic-size Dagupan City Pool Site can also give our team a slight advantage. (The Dagupan Pool Site incidentally was abandoned to deteriorate by the past city administration. Mayor Belen had to tap her personal funds to restore it to its high level of operations).

When Mayor Belen regained her old seat in July last year, the pool site, built in 1995 by the Philippine Tourism Authority as venue for the swimming competition of the Palarong Pambansa that year, it was a sorry sight. It’s once blue, clear water became greenish and became one big habitat for tadpoles and frogs.

The situation was reversed when Ms. Finnela Sim, who served for two years as regional coordinator of the Philippine Sports Commission, returned to her post as sports head of the city when Mayor Belen returned to power in July 2022.

That’s how Dagupan’s chances will likely stand in the coming R1AA in San Carlos City to be hosted by the San Carlos City Schools Division headed by SDO Dr. Shiela A. Primicias.

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Corollary to this, many people ought to know that  because of the actions of the past city administration, and continued by the seven-man majority in the Sanggunian, Dagupan sports is actually now in limbo.

The past admin did not give any priority to sports development, proving to all and sundry that it did not give any premium to physical fitness and welfare of the youth.

The Audit Observation Memorandum recently issued by COA spoke volumes about the policy of the past administration. It asked: “Why were two sports consultants hired and paid when there was even no budget allocated for sports?”

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