ANGELES CITY—Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin, Jr. continues to motivate Angeleño athletes to carry on and pursue the top spot in future Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association (CLRAA) meets.
During the recent awarding ceremony of P1.059 million worth of cash incentives to 93 CLRAA 2023 winners from the city, Lazatin addressed the student-athletes and expressed his belief that they will someday dominate the annual sports event.
“Today we are rank 12, last CLRAA [2019] we were rank 15, but tomorrow we will be number one,” Lazatin asserted.
Angeleño student-athletes garnered 21 gold, 19 silver, and 40 bronze medals including the results from ParaGames during CLRAA 2023 which placed Angeles City in the 12th rank.
Lazatin saw a significant improvement from the previous regional athletic meet in 2019 where Angeles City was ranked no. 15 for obtaining 3 gold, 12 silver, and 20 bronze medals.
“It is our administration’s ultimate dream to produce an Angeleño Olympic medalist. It is not impossible, with these athletes who are very dedicated and hard-working in the field of sports,” Lazatin stressed.
Each gold medalist this year received P10,000; P7,000 for silver medalists and P5,000 each for bronze medalists.
Funds came from the Local School Board and Office of the Mayor to accommodate giving these cash incentives to the deserving student-athletes.
A total of 417 student-athletes competed in CLRAA 2023, playing their respective fields of sports.
Each received sports shoes, uniforms, parade polo shirts, joggers, hoodies, bags, caps, and travel mattresses from the city government as support for competing in the said athletic meet.
This forms part of the flagship programs of Mayor Lazatin in promoting youth sports development in Angeles City and becomes an avenue to instill in them the values of discipline, sportsmanship, and excellence.
Mayor Lazatin insists that active support to Angeleño student-athletes will also boost their morale, and take pride in representing Angeles City while competing.