THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) donated P14.3-million worth of facilities and equipment to the Iloilo City government following its successful hosting of the Batang Pinoy 2019 Visayas Qualifying Leg.
Iloilo City Sports Director Moises Salomon Jr. confirmed this during the regular flag ceremony of the City Hall on Monday.
“PSC is donating to us a total of P14,269,780 worth of sports equipment for the sports development of the city,” he said.
The sports equipment and supplies donated were for Archery, Arnis, Athletics, Badminton, Baseball, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Chess, Futsal, Karatedo, Pencak Silat, Sepak Takraw, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, and Volleyball among others.
Based on their deed of donation, the PSC recognizes Iloilo City as the host of the Batang Pinoy 2019 Visayas Qualifying Leg from February 24 March 2, 2019.
“The facilities of the city government were used as venue in the holding of the event,” the document stated.
The deed of donation also underscored the need of the city government for sports equipment and supplies to be used in its sports promotion and development programs.
“The donee is in need of sports equipment and supplies to be used in its sports promotion and development programs and has requested support from the donor for the grant of such equipment,” the deed of donation said.
Under the same document it was stated that PSC by virtue of Republic Act No. 6847, is mandated to provide the leadership, formulate the policies, set the priorities and direction of all national amateur sports promotion and development.
For the first time, Iloilo City was declared as the overall champion in the 2019 Batang Pinoy Visayas Qualifier with 57 gold, 49 silver, and 44 bronze medals.
Mayor Jose Espinosa attributed the success of the athletes with their constant training.
“Cebu was well-prepared. Their delegation was very big. With our constant training, we were ahead by 15 gold medals against Cebu City,” he said.
Batang Pinoy is a grassroots development program of the government under the Philippine Sports Commission which aims to discover new talents among the young athletes in the different local government units (LGUs).
Winners of the gold, silver, and bronze medals will be qualified to the finals of the Batang Pinoy which is set to commence sometime in September or October in Bohol
