BAGUIO CITY (CNN Philippines) — Cordillera athletes will no longer compete in various sports activities barefooted.
The young athletes who will participate in the upcoming Palarong Pambansa on May 3 to 9 in Tagum City, Davao Del Norte received free pairs of shoes from a private sector who pooled funds for them.
Aside from the delegates, the coaches, officials and kitchen crew were also given footwear – totaling 678 pairs worth more than P2 million.
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The project according to local photojournalist Bong Cayabyab started from his Facebook post of barefooted athletes in last February’s Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) meet which drew reactions from several netizens on how local athletes, despite their stellar performance in sports, are not given shoes to wear during competitions.
With the number of individuals expressing their interest in pooling funds for the athletes, Cayabyab said they were able to mount the “Share a Shoe for the Cordillera Athlete” and “Adopt a Cordillera Athlete Project” held in Mabini Elementary School in collaboration with Project H.E.L.E.N. (Health, Education, Livelihood, and Environmental Nurturance) of the University of the Cordilleras and Children International Philippines.
The shoe-giving activity was aimed at motivating the athletes to perform well in the upcoming national sports competition.
Anonymous donors from the United States also pledged pairs of shoes will be given to the athletes of Cordillera which are expected to arrive on the second or third week of May. The second shipment will be arriving in June or July.
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Department of Education-CAR regional director Ellen Donato lauded the efforts of the private sector in helping the athletes in the region with the hopes of maintaining the fifth place overall in the medal standings or even surpassing it in the upcoming sports competition.
“The strength of CAR is individual sports and hopefully we can manage to improve our standings. We hope we can finish higher than number five last year,” said Donato.
Bulk of the region’s delegation will come from Baguio City, who retained the overall crown in CARAA with a 197-92-67 gold-silver-bronze tally last February.
