GMA lauds host for Minda Games

TUBOD, LANAO DEL NORTE — Holding the event despite the economic strife besetting the country is a triumph in itself for the region, according to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday during the inaugurals of the First Mindanao Friendship Games a before an estimated Mindanao Civic Center crowd of 12,000 here.

The President said the hosting of the meet, the biggest to be staged in the region since Mindanao Meet in the 60s, was also a triumph for host Lanao and the people of Mindanao.

"This is a celebration for the people of Mindanao because they are holding this important event despite the economic crisis and other problems the country and the whole world are facing," said President Arroyo in the Visayan dialect. She also visited the typhoon-ravaged island of Camiguin which is 200 kilometers from Tubod.

It was the first time that the Chief Executive has addressed a national sports event. She attended the opening of the Palaro ng Batang Langsangan last July in Manila but she opted not to speak.

President Arroyo, who herself once lived during her childhood days in her family’s ancestral home in Timuga, Iligan City, lauded the Philippine Sports Commission and host Lanao del Norte for their initiatives in hosting the event, postponed thrice due to budgetary constraints.

"I laud the host province and the PSC for managing to host the event despite the economic crisis. I, therefore, encourage all other regions in the country to stage the same friendship games," she said.

"This is also an opportunity to improve the lives of the sons and daughters of Mindanao through sports and I hope this serves as a venue for peace and unity in the region whether you are Muslims, Christians or Lumads, all children of Mindanao and children of the Philippines."

Also attending the opening ceremony were host gov. Imelda Quibranza-Dimaporo and congressmen Abdullah "Bobby" Dimaporo and Alipio Badelles, PSC chairman Carlos Tuason and Commissioners William "Butch" Ramirez, the meet’s project director, Ricardo Garcia and Cynthia Carrion, Presidential Assistant for Mindanao Jesus Dureza and some members of the League of Mindanao Governors.