As Batac leapfrogs LC in R1AA: CVF expresses disgust in LC’s fall to 10th place

By Dominic B. dela Cruz

Staff Reporter

“To be honest, I am very, very disappointed”.

This was Laoag Mayor Chevylle V. Fariñas’ reaction on the result of the recently concluded Region I Athletic Association (R1AA) meet held in La Union recently.

The Laoag City team dropped four places to 10^th from its 6^th place finish last year.

Ms. Fariñas said that the 6^th place finish last year was also a disappointment as Laoag placed 5^th previously.   

But with the way the city’s team fell to 10^th in her first year as mayor, she said she was very disappointed.

She however said that it is not yet time to accuse anyone but for the city’s officials concerned to admit the lapses that led to this monumental failure.

She stressed that this should serve as a wake-up call for all concerned to be complacent and there should be major changes in the preparations as there would definitely be changes because of this result.

She further rued that the result would have been more acceptable if they fell only one place in the final standings but the fact that Batac, a virtually new city, even finished ahead of Laoag is not an ideal situation.

She said she was disgusted with the situation and that there is a need to rethink their planning for the next R1AA meet.

The first-term mayor said she is open to suggestions and that she is already gathering information on the reason behind the failure.

“Its high time nga adda mabaliwan a sistema tayo baka idiay iti pagkur-kurangan tayo. It’s not about the budget. It’s not about the children. Maybe it’s about the system”, Ms. Fariñas said.

Despite of the this result, Laoag education program supervisor and division sports coordinator Marju R. Miguel thanked the city government headed by the mayor for their support during the RIAA meet.

“It is true that we garnered 10^th place in the overall standing in the RIAA meet but our players did their best but the best they have exerted was not good enough to meet our best expectations”, Miguel said in a written statement.

He said that players every year come and go and that maybe this year is not the year for the division though they did their best.

However, Miguel said that the result will be a challenge for them to improve their performance in the next RIAA meet.

He added that the city Dept. of Education and everybody will plan together for the benefit of their students and pupils in the preparation for the next school year.

“We encourage everyone to help and assist in building a more competable [sic] team not only in DepEd sanctioned sports tournament but also in other endeavors where sports will be highly developed,” Miguel added.

Meanwhile, Batac Mayor Jeffrey Jubal Nalupta expressed his joy on the result of RIAA wherein they landed 9^th place, three places higher that their 12^th place last year.

Nalupta hopes that this will continue with the help and supervision of the newly installed city DepEd division of Batac.