‘No more free use of our streets’

CEBU, Philippines —  World-renowned triathlon Regent Aguila Ironman 70.3 Philippines has been staged in Cebu for the last eight years but host local cities are not reportedly getting paid for the competition’s use of their streets.

Because of this, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said this will be the last year that the contest will be allowed to use the city streets free of charge.

“This is the last time. I think it’s time for the Ironman to give back to Cebu,” Garcia told reporters at a press conference yesterday.

In the past, the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, and Cebu have played hosts to the swimming, biking, and foot race legs of the competition.

For this year, the three cities will reportedly lobby that the race barriers used in the contest will be donated to the host cities.

“It’s time to reassess. You know we are earning kanang tanan mo-cross, mobutang sa ilang cables, nagbayad man na sila monthly,” Garcia added.

Garcia also revealed that she recently learned that Ironman 70.3 is no longer owned by Sunrise Inc. and has already been sold to a Chinese company.

“As a confirmed by their representative, they had sold it,” she said.

Garcia also revealed the organizers earned over P17 million from locators over the past six years, citing a report.

The FREEMAN tried but failed to get comments from the organizers as of this writing.

The race this year will be held on August 11 from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Mactan-Cebu Bridge Management Board (MCBMB) approved the request of Ironman 70.3 Philippines organizers to have an access to the Marcelo Fernan Bridge for the activity.

Traffic officials are expected to release an advisory about road closures and traffic rerouting in the coming days to minimize inconvenience on the part of the commuting and driving public. — Jed Harvey M. Ondiano, CNU Intern/JMD (FREEMAN)