Ferrera and Buenavista didn’t disappoint some 1,000 spectators — mostly students from a nearby school — claiming the win at the start of hostilities of the meet twice postponed for lack of funds.
Ferrera, 21, heaved the hammer to a distance of 54.38 meters, far from his current Southeast Asian Games record 60.47 he set in Manila last year but enough to outclass the opposition headed by provincemate Jero Perater and coach Agustin Jarin.
Perater, who like Ferrera trained under the late Irish priest Fr. Colum O’Halpin in Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, had 48.71 while Jarin a 36.55 to settle for the silver and bronze medal, respectively.
"It was not an impressive performance," said Ferrera, who hopes to add two more gold medals in discus throw and shot put tomorrow.
Buenavista, a 10,000m silver medalist in the Manila SEAG, ruled the 5,000m gold in 14 minutes and 47.8 seconds, ouitclassing closest pursuer Air Force man Julius Sermana’s 15:06.00.
The visiting Chinese Taipei tracksters kept pace with the Filipinos, dishing out a pair of golden efforts to spearhead the bid of the foreign field that included a lean Korean and Malaysian squads in this meet bankrolled by host Nueva Ecija Gov. Tomas Joson III and Milo.
Yu Hsun Chen provided the Taiwanese their first gold by topping the javelin throw in 48.53m, outclassing Rosie Villarito (43.35) of the Philippine Army and Maricris Cagicla (41.96) of Far Eastern University.
Meilion Khan followed suit with a victory in pole vault with a height of 3.70 meters to trounce Malaysian Noor Akma Abdul Faz (3.40) and another FEU bet Rizeil Buenaventura (3.20).
The level of competition is expected to go a notch higher in the next two days when top foreign bets, led by former Asian Games gold medalist Lee Jin Taek of Korea, see action in their respective events.
The 34-year-old Lee, gold medal winner in both the 1998 Bangkok and 2002 Busan Asian Games who also serves as coach of Korea’s six-man delegation, will see action tomorrow in what could be a performance to watch.
Sharing the day’s honors was Narciza Atienza, the Manila SEAG heptathlon bronze medalist who ruled the high jump event in 1.80m, less than a third of a meter ahead of Mariz Cotoner of FEU and Armywoman Jennifer Angeles.
The event’s opener was graced by Gov. Tomas Joson, athletics’ head Go Teng Kok and Philippine Olympic Committee chair Robert Aventajado.
"With this event, we hope to show both Asia and the rest of the country that we have a world class sports facility here in our province that we can be proud of," said Joson in Filipino.
Open notes: Lerma Bulauitan-Gabito, 31, said she’d want to compete in the Doha Games one last time before finally retiring. She’s here not to compete but to act as assistant to the FEU coach..‘I’m getting used to teaching young kids so Doha would be my last competition,’ she said... The complex, which was supposed to be the Palarong Pambansa venue had Nueva Ecija not give way to Naga City, is still under construction. But if completed, it will house not only track and field oval with a 5,000-seat stand but also a football field, a softball/baseball ground, a tennis center, an Olympic standard pool, dormitories and even a canoe-kayak or rowing race course.