INQUIRER Sports

TACLOBAN?Even just for a fleeting moment, Cotabato felt how it is to be on top in the 2009 Palarong Pambansa.

Rey John Miguel collected two gold medals in arnis while John Albert Mantua ruled the secondary boys? shotput as Cotabato yesterday grabbed a piece of the limelight in the nationwide multi-sport event normally dominated by the National Capital Region and Western Visayas.

Patrick Unso, meanwhile, claimed the first gold for NCR after clearing 1.85 meters in the secondary boys? high jump.

The 15-year-old Miguel, a son of a farmer from Tacurong City, Sultan Kudarat, picked up the highest rating of 92 points in the Anyo individual double identical weapon before joining hands with the gold-medal cast of Nomer Buenavente and Jerome Magna in the Anyo team event double identical weapon.

?All the hard training practically paid off,? said Miguel in Filipino after the third-year student from the San Manuel National High School became the first double-gold medalist of the games.

Miguel, Buenavente and Magna accumulated a combined output of 91.2 points to outshine the Western Visayas trio of Warlie Gumban, Michael John Calotot and Ariel Sultan in the Anyo team event.

Hostilities stood at a standstill the entire morning and resumed late in the afternoon following the formal opening rites attended by President Macapagal-Arroyo and Vice President Noli de Castro.

Several members of the Arroyo Cabinet aside from Leyte Gov. Jericho Petilla and top local government officials were present during the extravagant kick-off rites highlighted by the colorful parade of the 17 participating regional teams.

?Usually, the President and Vice President, for security reasons, don?t attend one event together,? said Arroyo. ?But the Palarong Pambansa is a program of progress that?s why we want to show how important sports is in the country.?

Clad in a sleeveless, navy blue dress, Arroyo addressed some 8,500 athletes, coaches and delegation officials at the newly refurbished LSDC.