GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/03 May) – The Department of Education (DepEd) in Region 12 has allotted some P3 million as incentive for winning athletes in the ongoing 2019 Palarong Pambansa in Davao City.
Dr. Allan Farnazo, DepEd-12 regional director, said they doubled their budget for the incentive from last year’s P1.5 million to encourage their athletes to work harder and strive to win more medals for the region.
He said they increased the cash incentive for gold medalists from P15,000 to P20,000 while the silver and bronze winners will get P5,000 and P3,000, respectively.
The official earlier announced that the regional office will give an additional P10,000 for Region 12’s first three gold medalists or an incentive P30,000 each.
“Our generosity is also due to the open handedness of those who supported us,” said Farnazo, who heads the Soccsksargen Regional Athletic Association or SRAA delegation.
He was referring to the P24.5 million funding contributed by local government units in the region for the SRAA warriors.
As of noon Friday, SRAA is in fourth place in the overall medal tally with 22 golds, 34 silvers and 25 bronzes, trailing perennial powerhouses National Capital Region, Western Visayas and Calabarzon.
At least 14 of SRAA’s 22 gold medals, which is one more than its total haul in the 2018 Palaro in Ilocos Sur, came from arnis.
Long jump artist Hazel Domocum of Banga, South Cotabato earlier set a new Palaro record in elementary girls category with 5.08 meters (m).
The 12-year-old pride of the province’s Tboli tribe broke the nine-year record of 5.07m set by Alyssa Marie Andrade of Western Visayas during the 2010 Palarong Pambansa in Tarlac.
Farnazo said he is hoping that the region will maintain its fourth rank in the medal standings until the end of the annual national games on Saturday. (MindaNews)
