Billeting Places For EVRAA Athletes Have No Water-Rojas
Maasin City, Southern Leyte – The 7-day Eastern Visayas Regional Athletics Association (EVRAA) meet hosted recently by Tacloban City (March 28 up to April 3, 2009), though there are faucets in all of the elementary and secondary school buildings where the 13 delegations from the entire region 8(Leyte and Samar) were billeted, have no water supply and the Leyte Sports Complex is allegedly a slippery venue for sports competitions.
This was the disclosure of the disgruntled Maasin City Sports Coordinator, Dominador Rojas in an interview at the city hall here.
When queried to clarify why he considered host Tacloban to have no water, he explained that the availability of the faucets installation was somewhat insignificant because during their 7-day stay, there was no water coming out from the faucets. Rare if ever, the water would be coming out from the faucets at dawn, he said.
Even the water delivered by the firetruck in the morning and afternoon for 5 days upon the request of Maasin Mayor Maloney Samaco to City Fire Marshall Doron, he said, cannot be drunk because it’s murky. “The water is only good for bathing and washing few clothes as the supply is very limited”, he said.
Rojas revealed they have spent more money in buying fifty 5-gallon-content water mineral containers daily for 7 days. “We used the water for drinking and cooking and occasionally even for washing some dishes, spoons and forks. We were thankful that there were 3 existing springs inside the San Jose Elementary School where we bailed out water also for washing the dishes, kitchen utensils and also for bathing”, he said. He claimed the same situation was also experienced by other delegations in different billeting places of the city.
The City Sports Coordinator who is also a trainer informed they also made complaints to the Leyte Sports Complex management about LSC’s slippery floorings as what they have seen before the start of the sports games. He said that earlier the volleyball games and other sports events were supposed to be held in Palo town’s gym.However, he said, the LSC’s management has somewhat overlooked their complaints and instructed them to go back to the Leyte Sports Complex for the sports competitions.
He said during the volleyball games a female athlete, Jackeline Alvarez, 15, third year student of San Rafael National High school has slid and struck her head on the slippery floorings causing her to vomit frequently. She was brought to the hospital for emergency treatment. Her head x-ray result however has shown no skull crack and no brain damage. But she continued to vomit, he said, and has undergone a CT scan to really determine if part of her brain was damaged.. Luckily the result was negative. Rojas said the accident should serve as a lesson for the LSC management.
Suggestions
Rojas strongly suggested that LSC’s slippery floorings should be coated with leatherized paint or other things that will eradicate the slippery condition. This is to avoid accidental slides during the sports competitions. He stressed that its management must consider first and foremost the safety of all the participating athletes including the coaches, trainors and officiating officials. “Safety for all those who are involved in this kind of undertaking must be the priority of every EVRAA meet host”, he pointed out.
He also suggested that any city or province that desires and have the interest to be the host of the annual EVRAA meet must have the sufficient supply of water during the duration of the sports events. In this way part of a delegation’s funds, partuclarly if limited, he said, will not be diverted to other use like buying water for drinking and cooking. To solve the problem of water inadequacy in the city, he emphasized the Tacloban Water District should look for additional source of potable water in the neighboring places for its dwellers and transient visitors’ drinking and other household needs.
Nevertheless, he clarified that his previous experiences with the other EVRAA hosts in the region like in Baybay, Biliran, Catarman and Ormoc, there was no problem of sufficient water supply during their stay as one of the delegations that participated in the regional meet.
Thankful and Grateful
On the other hand, he expressed his thanks to the 5-men team ARCOM led by Engr. Anecito Narit for providing them with technical assistance without the use of cellphone.He said a base station was installed inside the San Jose Elementary School where they were billeted. Thru the base, he said, he and his colleagues could easily contact outside within the city’s radius for any call of assistance to whoever they’ve needed during their stay.Depite his complaint regarding supply of water, Rojas said, he was also thankful that there existed 3 springs that augmented their needs of water for bathing and washing some clothes.
Request Letter
Furthermore, a letter from the Tacloban City Water District was sent to Mayor Maloney Samaco thru the DepEd regional office. The said letter was requesting the Maasin City Mayor for a firetruck that would deliver additional potable water everyday during the duration of the Palarong Pambansa held at the city’s Leyte Sports Complex(April 28 up to May 3,2009). Nonetheless, the request was not granted..
Mayor Samaco explained that it’s hard for him to grant their request because in case there’s a fire in the city, like what happened several days ago in brgy. Basak caused by an LPG leakage, how can the firemen effectively respond to an emergency if water firetruck would be in other faraway place like Tacloban? He said he was so sorry that the Tacloban City Water District’s request could not be granted.
Rojas said that the Maasin City delegation has sent 43 selected athletes in the elementary and secondary level to the Palarong Pambansa. They will compete in 6 games like swimming, table tennis, atheletics, volleyball, lawn tennis and badminton.
Other Related Developments
During the recent 7-day EVRAA meet Ormoc was the overall Champion in the secondary level(207 points).Second place went to the Leyte Province(206 points),while Northern Samar was third(205).Tacloban got the fourth place(147) and Maasin fifth(135.75).Eastern Samar upheld the 6th place(119.50),but Baybay, Leyte dipped to the 7th place(72).Southern Leyte plunged to the 8th place((63.50).
In the elementary level,Leyte Division capped as the overall champion(201.75 points),while Eastern Samar bagged the second position(164points).Tacloban City garnered the third place(160) and Ormoc bagged the 4th place(139).Northern Samar reaped the fifth position(125),but Maasin slid to 6th place(94).Southern Leyte Division plunged to the 7th place (70.25).
On the other hand, the Maasin delegation bagged the following awrds:1)Atheleltetics-1,500 meter- run for boys(elem.-gold);5,000 and 300 meter- run for boys(secondary-gold);2)badminton-singles(elem.boys and secondary girls-2 gold);3)Boxing(elem and secondary boys-2 gold and one bronze);4)Table Tennis(champion-secondary boys);5)Swimming(Elem. and secondary boys and girls(overall champion).
Rojas added that the 2-time unrealized schedules of the EVRAA meet last January and later was moved to February have adversely affected the performances of the participating athletes. The efficacy of their intensive training which lasted for 3 weeks, he said, was not freshly implemented due to postponements. “The various circumstances surrounding the scheduled regional meet and the graduation season during the month of March”, he pointed out, “has shorten our training to 4 days only, which failed to regain the kind of endurance and impetus that our athletes have acquired during the 3 weeks intensive training at the TOPS oval playground in brgy. Mantahan”.
When asked why the Southern Leyte delegation which has low points has a total of 51 medal harvest. A colleague of Rojas at the city hall informed that a point system was used in EVRAA and the Palarong Pambansa meet as determine by the high sports officials. “The more games a delegation has competed”, he explained, “the more points and medals can a delegation be possibly awarded if they have many well-trained and competent players.” Unlike in the Olympic Games where medal awards were used as the basis for winning the sports events, he said. Of the 51 medals won by the Southern Leyte delegation, 10 are gold,14 silver and 27 bronze.
Aside from the abovementioned delegations, other groups that participated in the sports events were:Biliran(Elem-32.50;Secondary-52.50),Samar Division(Elem.-47.25;Secondary-54),Catbalogan City(Elem.-22;Secondary-38.75),Calbayog City(Elem.-37;Secondary-40),Borongan City(Elem.-42.50;Secondary-28.75). (Quirico M. Gorpido,Jr.)
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