Para athletes seek public help for funding through ‘Alay Para Atleta’

PPC-PHILSPADA president Mike Barredo. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

In hopes of gathering more for sports for disabled athletes, the Philippine Paralympic Committee (PPC) and the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently Abled (PHILSPADA) is set to launch “Alay Para Atleta” program.

PPC-PHILSPADA president Mike Barredo announced the development Friday during the First Philippine Para Sports Summit at Microtel by Wyndham in Quezon City.

The social media-based drive, which is seeking to get help from the masses, is a nationwide campaign that encourages the general public to participate in the paralympic movement via a P50 annual contribution through mobile phone access.

“It will be digital, social media-based to help us. We’re targeting P1 million for the people to buy in to the paralympic movement, which will fund research, hiring professionals, so that we can help the athletes more,” said Barredo.

Mobile donations can be made through texting “ALAYPARA (amount)” to 3456, where the public can donate from P10 to P500.

Also, Information Gateway will release Juan2Run mobile game, reminiscent to the popular app “Temple Run,” with proceeds from downloading the app going to benefit PPC-PHILSPADA.

“Alay Para Atleta” is expected to be launched at around July to August.

“We cannot just sit back and hope that things will happen. We have to be proactive, help the government to support sports as a whole, especially sports for people with disabilities. We can’t just let the government do all the spending and supporting us. We need the private sector and the Filipino to come out and support the paralympic movement to help them in the long run, and I hope this call to arms will generate the enthusiasm and provide inspiration to come around and help the cause,” said Barredo.

Athletes of the PPC-PHILSPADA have their sights set on the 9th ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this September, the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia, the 10th ASEAN Para Games in Manila, and the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.

Also in attendance in the summit were Philippine Olympic Committee president Peping Cojuangco, Paralympic bronze medalists Josephine Medina and Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta, swimmer Ernie Gawilan, and representatives from the Philippine Sports Commission.