SOME athletes who were billeted in different schools in Compostela town, northern Cebu didn’t wait for the closing ceremonies of the Cebu Provincial Sports and Cultural Meet 2016 held in the neighboring northern town of Carmen.
The closing is set today but some athletes who have finished competing started going home last Thursday afternoon, according to one of the parents of the delegates, Boy Aguerre.
Aguerre earlier this week sent a text message to Cebu Daily News to complain about a certain billeting area in Compostela which didn’t have water in their rest rooms.
“They [went home] because it’s the same complaint all over again. Still no water for rest rooms,” Aguerre said. “They will be going home because the parents of some athletes cannot afford the expenses.”
The Department of Education (DepEd), which is responsible for the billeting of the athletes in the meet, said it already acted on the complaint when CDN told them about it.
In a talk with DepEd Sports Coordinator Nenita Jaralve, she said health officials already visited the concerned athletes and gave them the proper care right after this writer informed them on Tuesday about the situation.
“Our health officials already [went] there right after you sent us a text message,” she said, adding that there are a lot of schools being used in Compostela as quarters for athletes such as the Magay Elementary, Canamucan, Estaca and Central Elementary School. Jaralve said they have inspected those venues before the tournament even started.
But Aguerre said his grand daughter who was staying at the Compostela Elementary School had yet to receive help from organizers as of Thursday.
“I think it’s a must for the Department of Education and the local government unit of the town to inspect all venues if the contingents have a safe place to stay and toilets with water,” Aguerre said. “The local government unit provided the basic needs of the athletes but I think the athletes still need supervision from Capitol and DepEd.”
Jaralve said they did their best to attend to the needs of the over 12,000 delegates from 44 different municipalities of the province.
“DepEd joined efforts with the local government unit of Carmen to inspect the different venues and assure the health of every delegate. We have billeting commissioners who are tasked to do that job.”
Title in the bag for Daanbantayan
Meanwhile, with just few events left to be played, the Municipality of Daanbantayan looks headed to its second straight title in the meet as it has collected 58 golds, 39 silvers and 24 bronze medals as of yesterday.
In far second is the Municipality of Balamban, which has 24 golds, nine silvers and 17 bronze medals. The Municipality of Consolacion is at third with a 18-23-31 tally.
Around 20 events are still to be played today including badminton, basketball, arnis, athletics, basketball and volleyball.