Athletes caught off guard with Young’s decision not to send them to CVIRAA, Palaro

The announcement of Cebu City Councilor Joy Augustus Young that the city will not send athletes to the 2018 Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (Cviraa) meet and Palarong Pambansa caught athletes competing in the 27th Cebu City Olympics off guard.

Young made the announcement last Monday during the Cebu City Olympics opening in Cebu City Sports Center.

Young, who chairs the committee on education, blamed DepEd Region VII Education Support Services Division (ESSD) chief Dr. Luz Jandayan and Regional Director Juliet Jeruta for his decision. He blasted the two officials for mishandling the region’s delegation in last April’s Palarong Pambansa in San Jose, Antique.

Most athletes however, found Young’s decision disappointing and frustrating since they claimed to have trained very hard to qualify for the Cviraa and Palarong Pambansa .

Mary Joy Loberanis, the 14-year-old runner of the University of San Carlos-Basic Education (USC-BED) told Cebu Daily News that her sacrifices in training hard daily and juggling sports and academics will now go to waste.

“As an athlete I feel very disappointed because competing in Cviraa and Palarong Pambansa is everyone’s goal. I trained hard regardless of the conflict between my studies and athletics. Our performance in Cebu City Olympics would be useless if we don’t compete in Cviraa and Palarong Pambansa,” the champion middle-distance runner lamented.

University of Cebu’s (UC) 17-year-old jumper Jhuvan Jehn Baculot, was also crushed when she learned about the news yesterday. For her, it’s very unfair since she trained for the Cviraa and Palarong Pambansa. “It’s very unfair for us athletes who worked hard especially in my case since it’s my last year to compete in Cviraa and Palarong Pambansa. I hope they will find a solution to this problem,” she said.

Better solution

Young said the only thing that would change his mind is if the Department of Education (DepEd) Region VII will replace Dr. Jandayan and Dr. Jeruta as delegation head.

Loberanis’ father, Arvin, who also serves as her trainer, said he understands Young’s stand because he experienced first hand the inefficiencies of the region’s delegation heads during the Palaro in Antique. He claimed the team was very disorganized. However, Arvin said barring Cebu City athletes from competing is counter productive as it will deny them the chance to fulfill their dreams.

“I hope they will find a better solution because the athletes will suffer in this situation,” he said.

University of Cebu (UC) athletic manager Jessica Honoridez also wants a new delegation head for Central Visayas saying “the athletes suffer in this kind of irresponsibility.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Jandayan denied Young’s accusation of any mishandling.

“I already ironed out everything for the delegation before I left for Canada by assigning someone who is capable of handling the delegation for Palarong Pambansa in San Jose, Antique, with the approval of the DepEd regional director,” she told CDN last night.

Jandayan also refused to issue additional comments to prevent the issue from getting out of hand but reiterated that it is not for Councilor Young to decide whether the city will send a delegation to the Cviraa and the Palaro or not. She said that the decision rests on Cebu City superintendent Dr. Bianito Dagatan.

CDN also tried to get the side of Dr. Jeruta but her staff at the DepEd Region VII office in Barangay Sudlon said she was on an out-of-town team building activity.