The young
Aquino graced the grand opening of the Zamboanga Peninsula Regional Athletic
Association (ZPRAA)Meet at the Provincial Sports Center, Dao, Pagadian City with the theme, “Re-engineering sports:
Making good citizens, building communities.”
Addressing
before a crowd of 5,000 delegates composed of athletes, coaches and officiating
officials from the five cities and three provinces of Zamboanga Peninsula,
Aquino said ”practice, teamwork, fair play, sportsmanship and competition are
the important things that the students should learn for them to become
successful in the field of sports and in their respective careers.”
Aquino, a
social entrepreneur, said “nothing in this life comes for free and nothing of
value can be achieved without hard work. These should be fought for.”
Aquino
further said that in sports, “practice is very essential.” “The athletes should
practice and train constantly for them to excel,” Aquino stressed citing that
the various academic honors and awards were achieved through constant practice,
training and hard work. Aquino finished his college degree at the Ateneo de
Manila University summa cum laude.
Aquino
advised that for the team to be good, athletes should work as a team.
He sees the
same thing as essential for the senators to come up with good legislation, for
local officials to implement projects, and for the government officials to
create jobs.
Meanwhile,
Governor Antonio Cerilles thanked the Department of Education (Deped) officials
for giving Zamboanga del Sur the privilege to host this year’s ZPRAA meet.
Cerilles
said the provincial government has implemented the Youth Development Program,
an advocacy against drugs through sports.
“We support
our young people. We want our people to be good and worthy citizens, and would
like to drive away drugs not only in Zamboanga del Sur but in the whole Zamboanga Peninsula
