Central Luzon Palaro on in Malolos; Bong donates P100,000 bonus

MALOLOS CITY ,Philippines  – Young athletes’ quest for glory started Sunday as the 2011 Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association (CLRAA) meet formally opened at the Bulacan Sports Complex (BSC) with Sen. Bong Revilla promising a champions’ purse of P100,000. 

The opening came a week after the host province addressed concerns on accommodations of delegates from 18 participating schools divisions in Central Luzon.

Edna Zerrudo, division superintendent of the Department of Education in Bulacan, said more than 8,000 elementary and high school students and 1,000 officials are participating in the meet.

Delegations were billeted at 18 public schools in this city and in the towns of Calumpit and Guiguinto where sports events will also be held.

The opening ceremony was highlighted with the parade of athletes from the Bulacan Provincial Capitol compound to the sprawling BSC here.

In his speech, Revilla hailed grass roots sports programs like the CLRAA which aims to discover athletes who will later represent the country in international sports competitions.

He elicited a huge applause from the 9,000 participating athletes and officials when he promised to give a total of P100,000 cash incentives to the game’s overall champions.

The first half of the P100,000 cash incentive will go to the overall champion in the elementary division, and the other P50,000 to the secondary division over-all champion.

“It is part of my earnings from my TV show Kap’s Amazing Stories,” Revilla said, to which the participants responded with raucous noise.

Members of participating schools praised the provincial government of Bulacan for effectively addressing concerns on accommodation of delegates.

“Very smooth,” said a sports coordinator from the Angeles City Sports Development office.

He also said Bulacan’s coordinated billeting for every delegation is the first and the best in the history of the CLRAA meet noting that delegations experience the same problem every year.

The sports coordinator also said the provincial government has assigned a representative at every billeting center to attend to delegations’ problems and solve them on the spot.

An example is the electrical line at a public school here which tripped after the Angeles City delegates installed a freezer and other electric powered equipment.