Old Rizal bears brunt of ‘Milenyo’

The Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, which houses the training and living quarters of the national athletes, was not spared by Typhoon Milenyo which caused a Luzon-wide power failure and heavy damages to property yesterday.

Ritchie Garcia, a commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission, made a quick ocular inspection of the vast historic sports complex yesterday afternoon with fellow officials of the government sports agency.

They didn’t like what they saw.

"Malaki-laki ang damage. (The damage is quite heavy)," said Garcia, who was joined during the inspection by PSC executive director Cesar Pradas and administrative officer Dennis Rivera.

Garcia said the damages could amount to at least P3 million.

"Easy P3 million. It’s quite big," said Garcia although the official assessment of the damages will be done only on Monday, hopefully when the weather has improved.

The center roof of the badminton hall was ripped off, according to Garcia, along with some portions of the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, causing some flooding on the playing courts.

Also ripped off was a roof section of the PSC administration building’s fourth floor, leaving the boardroom soaked, but with very minimal damage to the interior.

Garcia also reported that one of the towers in the baseball stadium fell at the height of the typhoon.

"But overall they’re manageable. These things happen. We have to prioritize those concerning the athletes, like the badminton hall. The boardroom, we can manage without it," he said.