Mt. Makiling girl hits 4th gold

NAGA CITY – Janet Bermas, then nine years old, used to pick up arrows for his elder brothers at a range near the foot of Mt. Makiling. Five years later, she’s picking up gold medals.

Riding the crest of her three victories Tuesday, the 14-year-old Bermas of Calabarzon bested Emily Santiago of Central Visayas, 104-95, yesterday to become the first quadruple gold medalist in the 2006 Palarong Pambansa at the Camarines Sur National High School field here.

"I worked hard and sacrificed a lot for this event," said Bermas, an incoming senior at the Makiling National High School in Calamba, Laguna where she learned the rudiments of the sport.

Bermas, whose elder brothers Jay and Jovic are also archers, topped the 50-meter, 30-meter and overall events Tuesday that more than made up for her lone gold medal effort in last year’s Palaro in Iloilo City.

Late in the day, Jasmine Al-Khaldi of the National Capital Region snared two gold medals in elementary swimming to join Bermas in the elite group in this week-long meet organized by the Department of Education, Naga City and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Al-Khaldi earlier topped the 100-m freestyle where she breached the nine-year-old mark of Lynette Ang by one tenth of a second before she teamed up with Day 1 heroine Dorothy Grace Hong, Sabrina Ingrid Ilustre and Judith Cruz in winning the 200m medley relay gold.

Joshua Acain of Northern Mindanao owned the other record in the day, shattering the four-year-old mark of Malco Alron Daca in the 50m breaststroke by more than a second with a time of 33.67 seconds .

"I can still recall when she was nine years old, she was just picking up the arrows when her brothers were practicing," said coach/trainer Mildred de Leon. "I know she’ll be as big as this because I’ve seen her practice hard for this event."

Bermas hopes to cap her domination of the event when she teams up with Lourdes May Bellona, Samantha Mercado and alternate Marivic Uriza in the team events Friday.

Shut out in the girls’ side, the NCR’s boys teams swept all three archery gold medals — two from Nathaniel Tolentino (50-m and overall) and the other from Emmanuel Cabucoy (30-m).

In athletics, Rey Dennis Bacay of Western Visayas swept both the shot put and discus throw events.

Bacay, who trained in the same school ran by the late Fr. Column O’Halpir that produced Southeast Asian Games record holder Arnel Ferrera, followed up his shot put win Tuesday by copping the discus throw gold medal in 37 meters.