POC-funded gym rises for Leyte victims

THE PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee is doing its share of public service outside sports.

POC chair Tom Carrasco announced yesterday the completion of the P3.9-million multipurpose gym in Palo, Leyte, built by the local Olympic body and Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation for the benefit of 300 families affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda”  in November 2013.

The facility would be turned over to the community early next month after its inauguration led by POC president Jose Cojuangco Jr., International Olympic Committee representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski and Gawad Kalinga officials.

According to Carrasco, the project is the first of four facilities in areas devastated by Yolanda. Three more multipurpose halls will be built in Albuera in Leyte, Samar and Estancia in Iloilo, starting next month.

The funding for these facilities came from the International Olympic Committee, Olympic Council of Asia and the Olympic Solidarity Movement, which pooled $450,000 (roughly P20.7 million) in donations