By Aileen P. Refuerzo
BAGUIO
CITY – There was no negligence in the handling of the Baguio City athletes who
joined the Batang Pinoy national finals held in Tagum City Davao Del Norte from
Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 last year.
This
was the conclusion reached by the probe committee created by Mayor Mauricio
Domogan last December to look into the complaint of a parent alleging that there
was negligence and mishandling of the athletes particularly in the facilitation
of the means of transportation of the athletes from Nasipit Jeepney Terminal
going to Butuan City and from Butuan City to Tagum City.
“Based
on the findings, the committee sees no gross negligence on the part of the
Baguio sports coordinators,” the committee noted in a report to the mayor dated
Feb. 13.
The
body composed of city administrator Carlos Canilao, Office of the Assistant
Schools Division Superintendent officer-in-charge Augustine Laban III and
officer-in-charge city legal officer Melchor Carlos Rabanes said they conducted
separate fact-finding sessions with the parties involved -- the city sports
coordinators headed by sports development officer III Gaudencio Gonzales,
complainant Tomlinson Baniwas and two of the coaches.
As
per the information gathered, they concluded that the sports personnel “did the
best they could” for the 152 athletes who opted for seacraft passage to reach
their destination.
“Parents
are not official members of the delegation; hence, they were not involved
during orientations..,” the committee said.
Baniwas,
in a published complaint, took to task the sports coordinators for the botched
transit arrangement from Nasipit to Tagum City that triggered confusion and
inconvenience among the athletes and caused some of them to miss their
competition schedule.
But
the committee found out that proper coordinations were made but the arrival of
tropical depression “Marce” forced a change in the schedule of their departure
from the city and therefore necessitated renegotiating for new transit
arrangement which failed as the buses were already fully booked.
This
prompted them to resort to other modes of transportation and in all these plans
and moves, the coaches who were the designated caretakers of their wards were
duly advised.
The
coaches were also informed beforehand on the possibility of missing their games
and were instructed to coordinate with their sports associations for possible
adjustment of their game schedules.
In
the report, the committee recommended measures to prevent a similar incident
from happening again foremost the early processing and payment of
transportation whether by air or by sea and the sending of an advance party to
assess the actual situation of the ports or terminals in the itinerary and the
coordination and arrangement with transportation companies with clear terms in
the event of a postponement or rescheduling of the trip.
“As
a matter of policy, parents should not join the delegation; exceptionally there
should be conditions in the event they are allowed (like) they should be
included during pre-departure orientations and be properly briefed and be
required to sign a waiver,” the committee recommended.
But
the committee emphasized that parents “should not intervene in the management
of the athletes since the coaches are around.”
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