Another fishing competition will ne staged at the Burnham Lake as efforts to stage recreational events to erase the stigma of the more than two years under the specter of the coronavirus 19 (Covid 19).

Organizer Rafael Serrano, who was the first to be allowed by the city to fish at the lake, said that it will be a bigger event than the June 12 spectacle that attracted 27 fishers.

“This will be a one day event unlike the June 12 competition which lasted only three hours,” said Serrano, who was granted the permit last February by the City Environment and Parks Management Office.

Serrano was the tournament director in the Saleng Fishing Tournament organized by the Media for Spprts Development in behalf of the CEPMO.

“We will start early and finish by five. Participants can fish in an hour with 10 per batch,” Serrano explained.

The September 1 event  will see a winner per batch who will advance to the finals and the top three winners will get a trophy and cash prize, said Serrano.

“This will be big, we expect at least 50 fishers at the least,” said Serrano, who retired early after a 45 days stay at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center in March 2020, one of the firsts infected with the virus and the longest to stay hospitalized.

Last February, city mayor Benjamin Magalong told the CEPMO to grant Serrano a fishing permit in an effort to make it as a recreation for a city hard hit by the virus with more than 800 deaths after more than 42,000 infections.

Serrano was also granted permit after the tragedy of losing his 51 year old wife, Nadia, who died while under going the knife  last January.

Serrano fishes practically every early morning and has attracted others to take up the sport.

After Serrano, who took the sport for years now and does it during weekends, more than a dozen locals, including a Japanese, have been granted permits after paying the annual fee of PHP 2,500.

Last month, Magalong Serrano was appointed as recreational sports consultant by mayor Benjamin Magalong with annual pay of PhP1.00. Pigeon Lobien