YAP HANDS CASH, CITATIONS TO WINNING BATANG PINOY, PHILIPPINE NATIONAL GAMES ATHLETES

February 24, 2024 Provincial

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet

Benguet Rep. Eric Go Yap further boosted the morale of local athletes after handing citations and cash rewards to medal winners in the Batang Pinoy and Philippine National Games in December last year at McDonald’s here. Yap, who turned Santa Claus by providing fundings to allow the athletes to compete in the national games for 17 under
and 17 over athletes, respectively, invited the medal winners to lunch “and relax” even as he handed the citation and cash with provincial sports coordinator Dean Mark Monang.

The Batang Pinoy squad earned 4-5-7 gold-silver-bronze medals to land 62nd where Baguio won for the fourth
straight year with an 82-52-59 haul. Benguet’s older athletes finished with a 7-10-5 haul that was good for 21st where Pasig upended Baguio for the overall title. Kickboxers Jason Hart Benwasen and Elcason Mangosa, Jr. and wrestlers
Charles Calawen and Mavarick Magalgalit provided the gold for the Batang Pinoy athletes. Jasmine Butag had a gold
in athletics for the senior athletes with Jarius Ivan Brylle Bestre and Nazarette Pascua had the medal in kickboxing.

Wrestling also added three gold medals courtesy of Mark Gruner Gama, Geremy Bahingawan and Mia Langan. Pasig came in second with 57-56-74 in Batang Pinoy, while Davao wound up third with 47- 50-39. Finishing fourth was
Quezon City with 44-35-48, while Cebu City took fifth place with 39-43-46. Tabuk is the next best placed Cordillera local government unit after finishing 15th with 16-10-8. Pasig had a 42-38-47 haul to beat Mandaluyong (35-42-39)
and Baguio which tallied 34-41- 48. Davao was a distant fourth with 23-30-22 and Cebu at fifth over-all with 13-14-17. Ifugao, on the other hand, is at 42nd place with 2-2-2, while Tabuk is 46th with 2-1-3.

The taekwondo team alone raked in 23 gold medals on top of 17 silver medals and seven bronzes in both the BP and PNG. The provincial government has already given the athletes incentives, even as Baguio have yet to await their cash rewards from the city and a share of the BP PhP4 million cash incentive.

Pigeon Lobien/ABN