The City of Baguio harvested multiple gold medals in its bailiwick sport, martial arts and other combat sports, to complete a three-peat championship run in the Batang Pinoy Games
The rush of golds from combat sports propelled the City of Pines to breakaway from a close battle with Cebu City during the early days and runaway with a 25-gold advantage.
Baguio managed to collect 61 gold medals, mainly anchored on a 14-gold haul from its wushu team, 45 silvers and 70 bronze medals during the Batang Pinoy Championships held in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, that ended last Sunday, dusting their closest rival which had to settle with their 36-40-44 tally.
Davao finished 3rd place, followed by Laguna Province, Quezon City, Pangasinan, Pasig, Manila, Zamboanga, and Muntinlupa, who round up the top ten finishers.
| 2019 Batang Pinoy Medal Tally | |||||
| Rank | Team | G | S | B | Total |
| 1 | Baguio City | 61 | 45 | 70 | 176 |
| 2 | Cebu City | 36 | 34 | 35 | 105 |
| 3 | Davao City | 31 | 30 | 41 | 102 |
| 4 | Laguna | 29 | 26 | 18 | 73 |
| 5 | Quezon City | 26 | 25 | 23 | 74 |
| 6 | Pangasinan | 25 | 26 | 30 | 81 |
| 7 | Pasig City | 18 | 29 | 17 | 64 |
| 8 | Manila | 17 | 12 | 6 | 35 |
| 9 | Zamboanga City | 16 | 9 | 29 | 54 |
| 10 | Muntinlupa City | 15 | 8 | 7 | 30 |
| 11 | Lapu-Lapu City | 15 | 7 | 10 | 32 |
| 12 | Cotabato | 15 | 5 | 1 | 21 |
| 13 | Taguig City | 14 | 9 | 17 | 40 |
| 14 | General Santos City | 13 | 20 | 21 | 54 |
| 15 | Mandaluyong City | 13 | 16 | 17 | 46 |
| 16 | Makati | 13 | 13 | 5 | 31 |
| 17 | Cainta, Rizal | 13 | 4 | 13 | 30 |
| 18 | Dasmarinas City | 12 | 4 | 5 | 21 |
| 19 | Iloilo City | 10 | 17 | 19 | 46 |
| 20 | Santa Rosa, Laguna | 10 | 6 | 13 | 29 |
Benguet finished solo at 92nd place with four silvers and six bronzes.
The wushu team led Baguio’s medal haul as they went 14-7-4. They are joined the controversial Judo team with a 10-5-6 haul, Muay Thai (10-4-3), Taekwondo and archery (both 8-8-9), and wrestling (5-6-6).
The pencak silat squad exceeded the expectations with 3-0-3 output. Arnis contributed a 1-5-9 grab while boxing also delivered a gold, two silvers and two bronze.
The 2019 championship is Baguio’s third straight and sixth overall since 2011.
Baguio City garnered the overall championship during the 2017 Batang Pinoy games which was held in Tagum City, Davao del Norte despite some of the local athletes not able to play on their designated schedules due to delays in their arrivals to the host locality.
Baguio City repeated again last year when it co-hosted the 2018 Batang Pinoy national championships with the municipality of La Trinidad, Benguet.
The Batang Pinoy is a yearly national sports development program mandated by Executive Order No. 44. It serves as a friendly competitions platform for in-school and out-of-school Filipino youth ages 15 and below.
This year, over 6,200 athletes coming from 252 local government units participated in 31 sporting events. By Armando M. Bolislis
