Pinoy Idol winner's trip to US imperiled

MANILA, Philippines - Charizza Camille Alombro hopes to generate funds in time for her stint in the fourth Chicago International Taekwondo Winter Games in November following Pagcor’s alleged refusal to honor the agreed upon prize of the Pinoy Sports Idol Season 9 winner.

The 16-year-old Alombro, a silver and bronze medal winner in last year’s Korea Open, won the reality TV show last June 24, 2009. Aside from a college scholarship grant, the varsity team member of UP-Diliman was also promised a free trip to any international competition of her choice care of Pagcor.

She is now set to join the Chicago tilt on Nov. 11-13 with brother Raymund.

But the top gaming firm said it cannot release the said prize in time due to the long process of requesting for funds. Instead, Pagcor said it will just reimburse the Alombro family of the expenses provided she presents official receipts from her trip.

But the national champion, whose parents are a taxi driver and a housewife, said her family can never afford to raise the $4,000 funds.

Alombro, a BS Geology sophomore at UP-Diliman, started taekwondo at Diliman Preparatory School (DPS) and has since won more than 20 gold medals, more than 10 silver, and 6 bronze medals from competitions here and abroad.

Former Sen. and DPS president Nikki Coseteng has signed coach Nap Dagdagan’s final roster of taekwondo jins who will represent the country in the Winter Games.

Coseteng, a staunch sports advocate, plans to write Pagcor to ask support for the taekwondo team’s participation in the Chicago event.

“Our team is like the Dragon Boat team that did not get any support from the government, when they can surely bring gold and honor to our country,” Coseteng said.

The Philippine delegation will be headed by Coseteng and composed of the winners of the upcoming “Nikki Coseteng Cup,” the DPS-Quezon City (DPS-QC) Age-Group Taekwondo Championships in October.