An exciting development in the new administration of Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria and Vice Mayor Alan Gel Cordova is the public manifestation of support for wellness and sports.
Mayor Sagarbarria has the distinction of being the only Mayor in the entire Philippines to fire a howitzer, provided by the Provincial Military Command, to start off the 4,000 participants in last year’s Dumaguete Adventure Quarter Marathon.
Recently, the good Mayor revealed that he has taken up to walking as a form of exercise, and in fact, joined students and professionals in the Quarter Marathon Wellness Walk held March 8 at the Robinsons Mall and Dumaguete Business Park Inc. We anticipate that the Mayor will sustain his interest in walking, and serve as a good example for others to emulate in supporting Foundation University’s current advocacy to tratnsform Dumaguete City into a “Walking Capital of the Philippines” to complement its distinction as the “Motorcycle Capital”.
Vice Mayor Cordova, on the other hand, is a confirmed road-runner, and participates regularly in 10K events; his latest race was during the highly-successful “Run for your Heart” fun run staged in February by the Silliman University High School batch ‘80.
And soon, Vice Mayor Cordova will be presiding over a meeting and public hearing on a proposed Ordinance prescribing the creation of a long-awaited Dumaguete City Sports Council. A city sports council, similar to those existing in other cities of the country, is what we need to put in place an honest-to-goodness sports program. Sports, after all, is one of the distinctive hallmarks of an academic community like Dumaguete.
Last Feb. 16, I attended a consultative meeting in the company of representatives from the Department of Education, barangays, SK, and the sports directors of local universities, regarding the proposed ordinance authored by Councilor Danilo T. Leon, who also presided the meeting.
Salient features of the proposed City Sports Council: 1) The program will be barangay-based, and will focus on “communitizing sports; 2) It will adopt the principle of “instruction precedes competition” where age-group sports classes taught by volunteer instructors (retired PE teachers, athletes, varsity players, CWTS volunteers, senior citizens with sports experiences) is the major component, the purpose of which is to increase the base of participation; 3) The nuclei of community participation is sports clubs, thus, paving the way for a club system of participation which is the lifeblood of sports in other countries; 4) In response to the growing need to counteract the rising incidence of lifestyle diseases, regular classes for wellness and recreation for adults such as aerobics, ballroom dancing, healthy nutrition, and similar aspects of healthy practices, will be conducted; 5) Young children with special talents will be identified and trained to develop their full potential to represent the City in competitions and possible membership in the national athletes pool; 6) Sports medicine dealing with children’s sports, prevention and treatment of injury, will be organized by the City Health Office in partnership with local medical experts; 7) Professional training of barangay coaches and technical officials through seminars, clinics and formal studies will be undertaken in cooperation with local universities; 8) Construction of sports facilities and playgrounds will be rationalized through systematic planning incorporating environmental principles and multiple usage under the City Engineer’s Office; 9) A marketing and promotional scheme will generate funds and public support; 10) Regular monitoring and evaluation will be systematized through the development of a sports data base, assigned to a secretariat within the Council.
Hence, the creation of the proposed Sports Development Council could pave the way for a better conceptualization and implementation of youth sports and wellness programs for the intended beneficiaries.
To be effective, the Council must be headed by a personality in the City Hall who wields power and influence in the University Town. Sports councils in Metro Manila are chaired by no less than the Mayors or the Vice Mayors themselves. The Council members, likewise, should be men and women who have access to resources and influence in the community, such as the presidents of the academic institutions, and the president of the local chamber of commerce.
We pray that Councilor Dan Leon’s proposed City Sports Council will be supported because it could finally provide the missing academic character to this University Town — the love for sports.