NATIONAL team members from Tacloban are all accounted for and the Philippine Sports Commission is bringing them to Manila to give them temporary residence at PSC-owned facilities.
PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez said the athletes, who are scholars at Leyte Sports Academy, make up the core of the powerhouse Eastern Visayas squad in the annual Batang Pinoy because of their intensive, live-in training at Leyte Sports Stadium, which has been turned into an evacuation center.
PSC executive director Guillermo Iroy said there are 22 members of the LSA team, some of whom lost relatives in the recent disaster. He said they will be billeted at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
The LSA scholars consistently perform well in track and field and swimming.
The Batang Pinoy finals was originally set this week but was moved to late January because of the disaster.
Among the Batang Pinoy standouts from the LSA and are shoo-ins for the BP finals in Bacolod are Feiza Lenton, Karen Janario and Joan Creer in track and field and Ramil Pingol in boxing.