BACOLOD. – As a former Ateneo basketball ace and ROTC cadet as well, Commissioner Matthew “Fritz” Gaston believes the Philippine Reserve Officers Training Corps Games could be a spawning ground of outstanding athletes for international competition.
“We can foresee that the Philippine ROTC Games as another means of spotting potential talents who one day will compete in international competitions,” noted Gaston here at the close of the Visayan qualifying leg of the meet for student cadet athletes.
Gaston pointed to the example of arnis, the national sport, where over 150 athletes competed in three days of action of action.
“I gathered from arnis secretary general Gerald Canete that a number of arnis participants had to be turned away because they could not meet the registration requirements. I saw some of the matches and noted the high quality of the performance of our arnis bets,” he said.
He also learned from Canete that some schools that do not have the ROTC program are now interested in including it as part of their activities, which would be a welcome development for local sports and the ROTC.
“The Philippine ROTC Games could serve as a complimentary competition to other meets such as the Palarong Pambansa, Philippine National Games and Batang Pinoy Nationals,” said the PSC official, who himself was an ROTC Cadet with Ateneo and is also a huge advocate of the program.
He proposed that more disciplines be added to the sportsfest, with seven sports making their debut including swimming and the raiders’ competition, the latter an obstacle-course like contest that gave the cade athletes a glimpse of experiencing what it is like in a military boot camp.
Iloilo Science and Technology Army cadets took overall honors 17 gold, 14 silver and 5 gold medals in the meet backed by the Bacolod City government led by Mayor Albee Benitez.
Host school Carlos Hilado Memorial State University was second (12-17-7), Cebu Normal University, banking on its windfall in arnis, was third (11-4-8) while Capiz State University (7-6-6) and University of Antique (5-5-11) was fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
Depending on the sport and number of entries in each event, most of the winners in the various sports in the Visayan leg will qualify for the Philippine ROTC Games national finals scheduled Aug. 18 to 24 in Indang, Cavite.
