Some 345 Benguet athletes who won medals during the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association in Apayao received their cash incentives as promised by Cong. Eric Go Yap.
Yap represented by his chief of staff Kevin See led the turnover of cash incentives with the gold medalists getting P2,000 while the silver brings home P1,200 with the bronze medalist earning P1,000.
Benguet placed third during the 2024 edition of the regional games held April 15-19 taking home 50 gold medals, 91 silver and 89 bronze medals, a far cry from the 37-60-62 it produced in 2023.
The cash from Yap is separate from the provincial ordinance granting incentives to winning athletes who represented the province in regional, national and international competition.
Wrestling and Pencak Silat towed Benguet in the secondary level with six gold medals while the eight gold medals in gymnastics and six in athletics was the top medal earners for elementary.
The province was eyeing to reclaim the number two spot but host Apayao had other plans and stormed the competition for a back-to-back second place finish and relegated Benguet to third place for the second consecutive year.
But even with the third place finish, Benguet athletes remain upbeat of next year’s CARAA while promising to give their best to help the region in the upcoming Palarong Pambansa to be held in Cebu City next month.
Benguet athletes also thanked Yap for his continued support to athletes.
See meanwhile said Yap, aside from the different the different programs and infrastructure development in the province, the solon has also set aside funding to help improve sports facilities in Benguet.
Upon his assumption as care taker in 2020, Yap has been seeking funding for the improvement of the Benguet Sports Complex in Wangal, La Trinidad in a bid to hosting of bigger local, regional, national and even international sports competitions.
The standard rubberized track oval and the FIBA standard basketball court are already completed and are now being used for various sports competitions.
Within this year, Yap also vowed for the completion of the world class Olympic size swimming pool this year. Roderick Osis
