DAGUPAN CITY -- Aside from the personal pride they earned for bagging medals for Dagupan in the recent Ilocos Region Athletic Association (IRAA), the Dagupeño athletes received a bonus.

The City Government gave cash incentives to all the gold, silver, and bronze medalists.

Panagbenga 2009 blog

“In recognition of the challenges and the remarkable performances that they produced in spite of the hardships, the City of Dagupan has decided to provide an incentive to top winners of the IRAA Meet for continuing our heritage of athletic excellence” said Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. who also chairs the City School Board.

“If you look at the results of sports events that have taken so far this year, there is a lot of talent out there - new people have come on the scene,” he remarked.

The mayor said he anticipated an excellent performance by the local athletes.

The gold medalists each received P1,000, P750 each for the silver medalists while P500 each for those who captured bronze medals.

The coaches of the athletes also received cash incentives. According to the mayor, the move is to encourage them to carry on in training outstanding student athletes.

“Our athletes were always faced with challenges and the City Government believes it was fitting to recognize their good performances,” he stated.

“We will continue focusing our efforts on achieving results in future athletic competitions and invest more resources on our strong athletic programs. We have found the right mix of training assistance and cash incentives with our athlete excellence program,” Fernandez added.

The IRAA 2009 was hosted by the City Government and the Dagupan City Schools Division. It gathered more than 6,000 delegates coming from the 14 schools division in Ilocos.

Earlier, City Schools Division Sports Supervisor Edilberto Abalos hosted a thanksgiving party for all the teachers who acted as sports officiating officials and technical staff during the IRAA 2009.

The Department of Education (DepEd) expressed its gratitude to the 1,000-strong workforce who ushered a highly rated planning, management, execution, and organization of this year’s IRAA Meet, earning plaudits from education officials led by Secretary Jesli Lapus himself.

Meanwhile, the athletes who will represent Ilocos in the Palarong Pambansa are now in training.

The Palarong Pambansa is slated on April 26 to May 2. It will be hosted by Tacloban City.

More than 10,000 delegates coming from the 17 regions in the Philippines will be gathered at the said annual national sporting event.

This year’s theme is “Bridging Unity, Peace and Progress through Sports.” (LCMY/Sunnex)