Desamito and Sabal ran side by side throughout the 16K distance. At the final stretch, however, Desamito outsprinted the 28-year-old Armyman to claim the title and the P7,000 top purse.
"Palitan lang kami ng trangko ni Sabal, dito ko na nga lang siya naiwan sa last 200 meters," said the 32-year-old Desamito, who also beat Sabal here last year.
Desamito clocked 53 minutes and four seconds. Sabal, who is slated to defend his Milo crown on Sunday at the Quirino Grandstand, crossed the finish line four seconds behind.
"Pacing lang ako dito. Ayaw kong pilitin dahil tatakbo na ako next week," said Sabal, who owns the 42K course record of the Milo Marathon.
Completing the top five were Reynaldo delos Reyes (53:39), Gerald Sabal (55:15) and Alquin Bolivar (56:45).
The distaff side was topped by Maricel Maquilan who led all the way and registered a winning time of 1:04:43.
Maquilan, who also ruled the DZMM race the previous Sunday, also pocketed the top prize of P7,000.
Placing second and third were Liza Yambao (1:07:50) and Cinderella Agana (1:09:39). They respectively won P3,000 and P2,000.
Completing the top five were Hazel Madamba (1:12:54) and Genevieve dela Peña (1:18:36).
Yakult executives led by sales and planning manager Michael Ong, plant manager Mitsuo Taniguchi, technical assistant manager Koji Kuroda, special project manager Kenji Egami and media and events coordinator Ronald Nieva handed the prizes and gift packs to the winners at the awarding rites.
The top three finishers in the 5K race were Nelbert Ducusin (16:23), Jhonny España (16:23) and Renjie Bilvar (17:25) in the men’s and Emma Mangago (21:14), Corazon Salcedo (24:38) and Delma Ocariza (24:42) in the women’s.
The winners in the age-group 3K race for kids were Norman Apolinar and Michelle de Vera (6-9) and Fernand Nakila and Jocelyn Tambor (10-12).
More than 1,700 runners participated in the races.
All finishers received Yakult singlets and a bottle of Yakult, the unique health drink with lactobacilli shirota strain.