Bautista continues sports dev’t started by grandpa

In his lifetime, Fernando Bautista, or Tatay, as he was fondly called by the Baguio community, never missed out on attending and supporting athletes representing Baguio City in the Palarong Panlunsod, the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) and the Palarong Pambansa or any sports competition where Baguio City fielded athletes.

In fact, he supported not only our home-gown athletes but even national athletes who competed internationally.

Tatay Bautista holds the record for the Filipino who has attended the most number of Olympics.

This tradition of supporting athletes did not stop with Tatay.

Baguio City Mayor Peter Rey Bautista, grandson of the late Tatay, recounts that as a child, his ambition was to become a professional athlete, as was written in his Sixth Grade Annual at Special Education Center (SPED).

This dream of his did not materialize but it has not stopped him from supporting local athletes.
Even before his first term city councilor, he was able to establish the Youth, Education and Sports (YES) Foundation which offered assistance to athletes and sports events in the City.

This year’s Palarong Pambansa was held in Tarlac City, Tarlac on April 11 -17, the 14th being the Mayor Bautista’s birthday and he spent his special day cheering them on.

“In all my years of being a city official, ever since I was a Councilor until now, I have never missed out on being present at these events to give the Baguio athletes the moral support they need. As father of the City of Baguio, I feel that it is my obligation to look after our athletes as a real father would”, he added.

Aside from the moral support that the mayor extends to them, athletes are given an allowance when they represent the City in Regional Meets (CARAA) and additional cash incentives when they qualify for the Palarong Pambansa, whether they bring home a medal or not.

These incentives and allowances are given by Bautista in addition to the stipend allotted for athletes by DEP-ED Baguio (for CARAA) and DEP-ED CAR (for Palarong Pambansa). Bautista believes that giving our athletes ample support will encourage them to train harder and aim to be better athletes. During his administration, Baguio has consistently been the over-all champions in the CARAA.

Baguio was also the over-all champions in the Philippine Olympic Festival, North and Central Luzon Leg, which was held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 2007.

In recent years, Baguio once again was given the opportunity to host the CARAA and it was recorded to have the most CARAA delegates since its establishment.