THIRTEEN athletes, three coaches and two sports-journalists will be honored today, Tuesday, two days before the Baguio City High School centennial celebration on Thursday.
Taiji master Daniel Parantac, boxers Josie Gabuco and Alice Kate Aparri will lead the honorees during the 3PM awards ceremony at the BCHS Library.
Gabuco could be the most heralded of the awardees by winning the gold in the Women's World Boxing Championship in 2012 in Qinhuangdao, China. The now flyweight Gabuco produced gold medals in the 2009, 2011, 2013 and last yearís SouthEast Asian Games.
The 28 year old Puerto Princesa native who went on to finish her high school here after winning the national open in 2003 has one dream before retiring in two years: win an Asian Games medal.
"Yan na lang po ang wala sa akin," she told this writer through Facebook message as she said that she will not be able to attend the Tuesday awards.
Aparri is Gabuco's senior at the school and with the RP team. "Nauna po sa akin si ate Alice Kate," she said of Aparri, who won gold medals in the SEAG three times - 2005, 2009 and 2011.
Aparri failed to defend her title in 2007 when she fell to Sopida Satumrum of Thailand in the finals. But she came back strong in the 2009 edition when she swamped Laotian Milvady Hongfa, 15-4.
Parantac is one of the country's most successful wushu taolu players after an Asian Games silver medal in 2014. He also produced two gold medals in the 2013 and 2015 SEAG, aside from getting one and two silver medals, respectively, during said stagings.
Aside from the three, the other awardees include Kareel Meer Hongitan, Thornton Lou Sayan, Majoy Baron and Justine Kobe Macario.
Archer Hongitan is the first Cordilleran to join the RP archery team and was part of the competing squad in the last SEAG. She is now in Antalya, Turkey for the Olympic qualifiers.
Sayan is a RP wushu taolu member who, with two other Cordillerans took the silver in duilian barehands in the 2015 SEAG.
Baron is the best blocker for the De La Salle University which ended the two year reign of the Ateneo Blue Eagles and the queen eagle, Alyssa Valdez.
Meanwhile, the grade 9 student Macario bannered the country's campaign in the 1st Asian Cadet Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Chinese Taipei where he won two golds in the cadet freestyle individual and the cadet team competitions.
As a result, the Philippine Sportswriters Association named him the Junior Milo Male Athlete of the Year award.
BCHS athletics coach Danilo Alimbuyao, who is set to retire this month, is named coach of the year. The former Gintong Alay member has been for more than two decades a coach for BCHS as well as college athletes.
Citations will be given to archers Loren Chloe Balaoing and Shanaya Dangla, who are now with the University of Baguio, for their performances last year and early this year. Balaoing won five gold medals in her last year
in the Palarong Pambansa, even as her batchmate Dangla won two gold medals in the last Philippine National Games.
Grade 9 Charmaine Angela Villamor will also get citation for her 1-1-2 gold-silver-bronze medal performance in the last Palaro.
College volleyball players Cherry and Mary Ann Atuban of UB and Rochelle Degay of the University of the Cordilleras get honors for leading their respective teams in the Baguio - Benguet Educational Athletic League. They are also members of the Baguio Summer Spikers now seeing action in the Shakey's V-League.
High school and college buddies Roderick Osis and Jordan Tablac, now the editor-in-chief of Sun Star Baguio and station manager of Bombo Radyo, respectively, are this year's sports journalist awardees. They will receive their awards from veteran newsman Narciso Padilla, who was last year's recipient, the first.
Last year, trackster Katherine Kate Santos, wushu taolu player Natasha Laxamana and 2014 Asian Games bronze medalist Benjamin Keith Sembrano (taekwondo) were the initial winners of the award for excelling BCHS student-athletes, past and present. Pigeon Lobien