GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/6 February) — Around 5,600 runners coming from various parts of Region 12 are expected to join the Koronadal City leg of the nationwide Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or PhilHealth Run 2013 slated on Feb. 17.
Joy Lizada, PhilHealth Region 12’s senior social insurance officer, said Wednesday they increased the region’s previous target of 5,000 runners or participants for the event due to the rising support from various sectors in the last several weeks.
As of Wednesday, she said a total of 4,403 runners have already signed up for the annual run’s five categories and hundreds more have signified to enlist in the coming days.
“Region 12’s assigned quota was only for 5,000 runners but we requested our central office to allow us to open 600 additional slots so we can accommodate more participants,” Lizada said in a media forum.
Region 12, which is also known as the Soccsksargen Region, comprises the provinces of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani, North Cotabato and the cities of General Santos, Koronadal, Tacurong, Kidapawan and Cotabato.
During its launching last year, a total of 3,863 runners from various parts of the region joined the event, which coincided with the celebration of the agency’s 18th anniversary.
PhilHealth Run 2013 mainly intends to highlight mother and child protection in the country.
It will be staged simultaneously in 18 key areas nationwide, specifically in the cities of Manila, Dagupan, Tuguegarao, Malolos, Laguna, Batangas, Legazpi, Iloilo, Cebu, Tacloban, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, Koronadal, Marawi, Butuan and in Clark, Pampanga.
Lizada, who heads the Koronadal City leg’s registration and marketing committee, said the proceeds of the event will go to the Reception and Study Center for Children (RSCC) of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Region 12 and the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) in Quezon City.
The RSCC is a 24-hour residential facility located at St. Gabriel in Koronadal City that provides social work interventions for abandoned, abused and exploited children aged six years-old and below.
During the first 2012 PhilHealth Run in February last year, PhilHealth-Region 12 chose the DSWD’s Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth in Tupi town in South Cotabato as its beneficiary.
Lizada said they have so far raise around P3.5 million from the event’s registration fees and local sponsorships.
She said their registration collections already reached P1.5 million while the committed sponsorships, which were either in cash or in kind, were valued at around P2 million.
A project briefer said the registration fees for the PhilHealth Run 2013 are: P250 for the three-kilometer or 3k kiddie and adult category; P300 for the 5k; P350 for the 10k; and, P450 for the 18k.
The fees are inclusive of a singlet, complete race kit, raffle coupon and food, it said.
The registration fee for students participating in the 5k category is P100, which will cover for a race bib and food.
Lizada said the event’s net proceeds will be split equally between the RSCC of DSWD Region 12 and the PCMC’s oncology and hematology department, which was the designated national beneficiary. (Allen V. Estabillo/MindaNews)