The term usually connotes great expectations of change–for the better. And that is what we are all looking forward to, with the appointments of Paultom Y. Paras as provincial sports officer, and his Dumaguete City counterpart, Xavier Ike S. Villaflores.
Paras, 42, and Villaflores, 40, are alumni of Silliman University. The former has a degree in Agribusiness; the latter in Industrial Education. Both of them are seasoned organizers of sporting events. They are young, with enlightened and fresh ideas about what needs to be done for sports in our Province and the University Town.
Paul and the Metro Dumaguete Roadrunners Club were partners of Foundation University in its early stagings of the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon. Paul is currently involved in the organization of weekly running events in Negros Oriental, and could be credited as the organizer of the first ultra-marathon, a 50km run from Dumaguete to Siaton. He also coaches some members of the Dumaguete Amateur Runners & Striders, the most active running club in the Province.
Paul also organizes triathlons, mountain bike races, and other extreme sports, thus, ensuring we are in-step and current with extreme sports practices in the country.
One of the first things that Paul wants to do is to organize a college and university athletic association, similar to the NCAA and UAAP in MetroManila, something that should have been created and sustained a long time ago as part of the curricular programs of academic institutions in Negros Oriental.
I actually found it unusual when I first arrived here in Dumaguete City almost seven years ago that there was no existing intercollegiate athletic league.
With Paul’s initiative, meetings are being held among representatives of schools for the purpose of institutionalizing a viable and sustainable sports competitive program in UniTown.
Paul presided in a meeting held Tuesday last week and hosted by the FU Institute of Youth Sports for Peace (IYSPeace). The main agenda was to get a commitment from the representatives of the schools who initially will make up the membership of the Negros Oriental Colleges & Universities Athletic Association (NOCAA).
Those in the meeting were: Jake Villavicencio (NORSU), Stephen Tia (SU), Lennie Tia and Lennie Martinez (COSCA), John Alam-Alam (Negros Maritime), Michael Villahermosa (ACSAT), John Aquilara (Diaz College, Tanjay City), Louis Robinson (FU). Besides Paul, the other representative from the Negros Oriental Sports Development Program (NOSDEP) was Rhy Equid.
The initiative of Paultom Paras in forming the much- needed athletic association of colleges and universities in Negros Oriental — when he barely warmed his seat as in-charge of NOSDEP, inheriting the position long-occupied by Buddy Ravello and shortly by Engr. Junny Dumalag — exemplifies the no-nonsense approach of paratroopers in getting missions done and a favorite expression of then former President Ramos: “Hit the ground running!”
With this initial manifestation of seriousness of purpose in leading the NOSDEP, Paul could begin to undertake preparations to host DepEd’s annual Palarong Pambansa, which Negros Oriental is sure to do because it is the only Province that has not hosted the school games for some 40 years now. Cebu, Tacloban, Bacolod, and Iloilo were all recent hosts of the Palaro.
Our potential rival for hosting is Tagbilaran, but it lacks the required facilities like an all-weather track oval.
Having hosted the Batang Pinoy and the Philippine National Games recently, Negros Oriental is sure to be the Palarong Pambansa host in April 2013.
Paul will also have to provide guidance to the Negros Oriental National High School, the selected beneficiary in Region 7 of a half a million peso grant from the DepEd to undertake a special program in sports.
Paul is in a position to provide the leadership for the 16 other regional sports high schools to craft programs that are in consonance with the UN recommendation for the use of sports “not for the creation of new sporting heroes, but in its broader term for health, education, social transformation, communication, linkages and partnership, and peace-building.”
Templates and models for better practices embodying this UN recommendation are found in the FU physical education and sports program which I discussed in this column (June 23).
These practices were part of a briefing that Dr. Philip Juico presented last Friday to Education Secretary Armin Luistro. Dr. Juico and this columnist are advisers to Secretary Luistro in the restructuring of the MAPEH (Music, Arts, Physical Education, Health) curriculum which will be adopted in the new K+12 program.
Ike Villaflores, an arnis and Muay Thai expert, completed the Level I and II of the coaches training and accreditation program of the Philippine Sports Commission. He was in the midst of completing Level III when the program was discontinued by former Chair Harry Angping.
Ike’s priority, he revealed to me, is to form a Youth Sports Corps composed of young volunteers who will be trained to provide leadership in the implementation of sports activities in the communities.
Likewise, with R.A. 9850 declaring arnis as the National Martial Art & Sport, and requiring the teaching of arnis in the school system, Ike will be busy ensuring that school children will be provided the training and experience to practice and appreciate this martial art that is a valuable component of Philippine culture and tradition.
Indeed, the appointments of Paultom Paras and Xavier Ike Villaflores as the new leaders of our sports offices will finally cause the vibrant stirrings and enthusiastic participation apil tanan that this columnist had long looked forward to have in this UniTown.
To Paul and Ike: May the Almighty and Omnipotent God bless your efforts.
