Wednesday, February 27, 2008 Davraa to spend over P8M for Palaro stint
THE Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) will spend over P8 million to fund the participation of its more than 400 delegates to the 2008 Palarong Pambansa in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on April 20 to 26.
Dr. Fidel Japos of the Department of Education (DepEd) Southern Mindanao Tuesday said, "We still have a deficit of P680,000 if we don't cut down the list of 484 delegates even with a budget of P4M from the central office, P150,000 each from the nine districts of Davraa and from the DepEd regional office."
He, however, said Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William "Butch" Ramirez committed to DepEd regional director Susanna Estigoy that he will help Davraa during a courtesy call at her office along F. Torres St. Tuesday morning.
The PSC chief confirmed this, saying, "We will help them in the best way we can. We will provide training for their coaches and athletes in a sports summit to be held in Mati. We will provide balls and other equipment. We will also help financially but it won't be much."
Mati, being the Davraa Meet host, will also be the training venue of the regional athletes bound to Palaro.
Japos said: "There are 339 athletes, 53 coaches, seven chaperons and 85 officials in the present list. We are still finalizing the means of our trip to Palawan. It will be cheaper for us to travel by plane than taking the ship."
The 85 officials include the kitchen staff, medical committee, communications committee and transportation committee, among others.
He said a roundtrip Negros Navigation ticket, including the bus trip from Davao City to Cagayan de Oro City, will cost over P9,000, while a roundtrip plane ticket of Cebu Pacific or Philippine Airlines costs only over P7,000.
"Negotiations are still ongoing. We have yet to reach a decision anytime this week whether we will take the plane or boat," he added. (MLSA)
