BAGUIO CITY – A young athlete member of the Philippine Muay Thai team has donated her one-month allowance from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) for the purchase of relief goods for some of the city’s indigent families.
Islay Erika Bomogao said that she instead gave her monthly stipend to help in the relief efforts of her councilor dad – Benny Bomogao.
The 18-year-old silver medalist during the 33rd Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) said that she will also give her stipend this coming month for the relief efforts.
“The first batch (allowance) was spent for 50 solo parents at Barangay Dontogan, Green Valley here,” she said in a mix of English and Ilocano.
The food packs contained milk, sugar, canned goods, noodles, and rice.
“The next batch, from my incoming allowance, will be used to purchase the same goods. But we still do not know who will be the beneficiaries yet. We will see,” she said.
“But then it will be up to my daddy,” she told the Philippine News Agency via a private message on Monday.
The young Bomogao, who recently enrolled at the University of Baguio for a degree in teaching, said that it was her father who inspired her.
“My dad donated his pay for a month to jumpstart a relief effort for our indigent fellow Baguio citizens,” she said.
“He pledged his salary while asking for help from willing donors. So I wanted to help and gave my allowance. Anyways I got a lot of blessings last year so I thought (that) this is a nice way of sharing those blessings,” she said.
Bomogao finally made it to the national team after finishing her senior high.
Then was sent to Thailand for a 45 days training before she returned home to compete in the SEAG which the Philippines hosted.
Her efforts yielded her a silver medal which entitled her to a PHP300,000 incentive from the PSC, aside from a PHP25,000 Christmas bonus.
She is also entitled to a PHP20,000 cash reward from the city.
“Hopefully this will also inspire other athletes to be kind and help,” she said.
Some 40 Baguio athletes won gold, silver and bronze medals in the last SEAG. A gold medalist netted PHP750,000. **By Pigeon Lobien
