Despite him isolated due to Covid-19, Rep. Mark Go this week saw one of his pet bills that will be a big boost to local sport pass third and final reading in the House of Representative.
In a release Monday, Go announced that House Bill 10567 that aim to create the Baguio City Sports high School has passed the third and final reading at the Lower House.
The bill, that will create a specialized high school for sports in the city for talented athletes across Baguio and the Cordilleras, is aimed to “train and educate promising young athletes from nearby provinces and provide them with opportunities to pursue their athletic dreams.”
Go said that the “school will offer a sports-focused curriculum complemented with the necessary general academic curriculum in order to cater to young athletes’ needs.”
Under the bill, the school shall be administered and supervised by the Department of Education (DepEd), in close coordination with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), whose task “will help in policy and program formulation and implementation, and provide technical assistance.”
Go, the principal author of the bill, said the creation of the specialized school comes at an esciting time for Philippine sports with successful young athletes who have made this mark in sports like Hidilyn Diaz, winner of the country’s first Olympic gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, EJ Obiena, currently ranked 5th in the world in men’s pole vaulting.
Also successful during the last Olympics are boxers Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam, winners of silver medals.
“There are so many aspiring young athletes in the country, many promising talents do not receive the adequate support and training, and are not exposed to the proper opportunities to further pursue their athletic dreams,” Go said in a release.
He added: “If we can provide them with the proper support, the proper facilities, the proper coaches and trainers, the future can only be brighter for Philippine sports.”
Baguio is known for high altitude training and has the facilities like the Baguio Athletic Bowl and the Baguio Teachers Camp, the latter is host to several training camos including boxing and athletics.
“Establishing a sports high school in Baguio will open a lot of opportunities for young athletes in Baguio and Cordilleras, which may be replicated in many strategic locations across the archipelago. With added government support, these facilities could further be improved to meet international standards,” Go added.
The bill is set to be transmitted to the Senate for approval.
Meanwhile, two other bills have been passed by the Lower Chamber with HB 1903 that was subsequently substituted by HB 10568 or the bill that seeks to increase the discount rate and exempting from VAT the monthly electric and water consumption granted to senior citizens.
Go seeks also to expand the coverage of the tertiary education subsidy to private higher education institutions with HB 8136 that is substituted with HB10560.
In his release, Go, who and wife Soledad are on their way to full recovery from Covid-19, announced that he has maintained his “100 percent and punctual attendance in all plenary sessions since I was first elected in 2016.”
