‘Alay Para Atleta’ launched today

MANILA, Philippines - A campaign to provide for the special needs of differently-abled athletes will be launched during the first-ever Philippine Para-Sports Summit to gather athletes, coaches, trainers, doctors, marketing experts, policy makers and sports leaders with the goal of laying down a long-term agenda at the Microtel Technohub on Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, today.

Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) and Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled (Philspada) president Mike Barredo will open the one-day summit with a presentation of the state of para-sports in the country. An audiovisual entitled “The Paralympic Movement: All About Ability” will set the tone for the conclave.

POC president Jose Cojuangco, Jr., PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, PPC secretary-general Ral Rosario, noted orthopaedic surgeon Dr. George Canlas and Paralympic classification expert Dr. Raul Cembrano are lined up to speak in the meeting where a long-term program will be tackled to include hosting the 2019 Asean Paragames and participating in other international competitions up to the Beijing Paralympic Winter Games on March 3-14, 2022.

Barredo will make a call to action in pushing for the campaign called “Lakas Kapansanan: Alay Para-Atleta” to coincide with the PCC-Philspada’s 20th anniversary in August. “We believe that everyone should be driven to participate in sports and that a person’s disability should not be a hindrance in achieving one’s dream,” he said. “Sports not only helps our differently-abled athletes to realize their dreams but also instills important values such as discipline, perseverance and teamwork. More than rehabilitation, sports helps to strengthen their competitive spirit, develop their self-confidence and heighten their self-esteem.”

The “Alay Para-Atleta” strength-in-disability project aims to directly approach every Filipino as a form of advocacy not only to create awareness of the movement but also to encourage them to get involved and be part of the cause. The goal is to raise funds to support activities and operational requirements in providing for the housing, livelihood, training, equipment and participation of para-athletes. The nationwide campaign will enable the public to join in the Paralympic movement with a P50 annual contribution from a mobile phone facility.

Over 100 participants are expected to attend today’s assembly which will feature testimonials from the country’s Paralympic bronze medalists – powerlifter Adeline Ancheta in the 2000 Sydney Games and table tennis player Josephine Medina in the 2016 Rio Games. Davao City’s Ernie Gawilan, a legless consistent Asean Paragames gold medalist in swimming, will also deliver an inspirational message along with athletics coach Joel Deriada and wheelchair basketball coach Vernon Perea. An audio-visual entitled “Heroes” will be shown to share the stories of outstanding Filipino para-athletes.

This year, the Philippines will participate in the Asean Paragames in Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 17-23 and the Asian Youth Paragames in Dubai on Dec. 10-14. Next year, the key competitions are the Paralympic Winter Games in Peongchang, South Korea, on March 9-18 and the Asian Paragames in Jakarta on Oct. 8-16. Then, Manila will host the Asean Paragames in 2019. The Philippines will send para-athletes to the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the Asean Paragames in 2021, the Asian Paragames in Hangzhou, China, in 2022 and the Paralympic Winter Games in 2022.

A sidelight of the summit will be a wheelchair dance sport exhibition. Registration for the summit will begin at 8 a.m. with the program to start at 9 a.m.