Estrada offers incentives to PnB best

GENERAL SANTOS City - Hundreds of young Warriors from the heartland of Mindanao performed tribal dances to the loud sounds of native gongs and rhythm of drums as they welcomed the youth from across the archipelago in colorful rites kicking off the first Palaro ng Bayan here yesterday.

Soot-covered Ati-Atihan tribesmen, black-robed Warriors of Tribu Alexandrea, and little creatures with golden wings and screaming yellow costumes regaled a fullhouse crowd in a two-hour show depicting centuries-old culture of Mindanao's growth areas - hosts South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and General Santos - which form the SOCSKSARGEN ecozone.

Groups of children from the city's public and private schools performed native dances in the major thoroughfares in the morning in a city-wide celebration also marking the 32nd foundation of the city, known as the Tuna Capital of the Philippines.

After the parade of the regional teams, Ben Silva-Netto, Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association secretary-general who ran in the Mexico Olympic marathon in 1968, did the honors of carrying the torch on its final journey and lit the cauldron as fireworks exploded and clusters of multi-colored balloons raised to the heavens.

The star of the show was agreeably President Joseph Estrada, who drew a thunder of applause from fans upon his arrival in the evening in this city, looked upon as the hub of the area's economic growth in the future.

"Ang Palaro ng Bayan ay ating binuo para mabigyan ng pantay na pagkakataon sa isang paligsahan ang lahat ng ating mga kabataan, maging mag-aaral man o out-of-school youth," said the President.

The Chief Executive said he had allotted P5-M as a starting fund for the Erap Sports Foundation, and to enhance the program, he called on the various local agencies, particularly the local government units, to allocate funds for the Batang Pinoy and Palaro ng Bayan programs.

Appearing in a sports gathering for the first time since he assumed office, the President, at the end of his speech, announced a cash incentive of P50,000 for the best player in each of the 11 individual and six team events. The second best gets P25,000 and the third best P10,000.

These are on top of scholarships to be awarded by the PSC.

The festive air at least relegated to the background some first day snags resulting from the late arrival of teams from Luzon and the Visayas.

Organizers had to postpone scheduled morning games in football, men's baseball and girls' softball. As of late yesterday afternoon, technical officials were still busy reviewing the qualifications of players of the different teams but promised to be able to put together the complete schedule of games for 17 sports disciplines over the next nine days.

Action goes into second gear today with competitions in athletics at the Acharon Development and Sports Complex here. The gold medal events include the 10,000m run for 16-18 boys, long jump (13-15 boys), shotput (16-18 girls), 3,000m walk (16-18 girls), 1,500m run (13-15 girls) and 1,500m (16-18 boys).

The media center, supposed to be composed of a main center and subcenters to cater to about 400 national and local media reporters, was a big mess. Reporters had to wait for their turn on 12 computer units available, while direct dialing for faxing of stories to Manila newspaper offices was not available as of late last night, forcing national reporters to go elsewhere to transmit their stories.

PALARO NOTES: Waitlisted Palaro officials and media were able to take the Saturday morning flight to this city, thanks to Philippine Airlines' efficient ground crew led by Edwin Salam... Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos 'Butch' Tuason and his commissioners are giving their full support to the Palaro ng Bayan ... The PSC chair has batted for the inclusion of arnis as a regular mandatory event of the Palaro ng Bayan starting this year. -