Lazatin pursues grassroot sports with Hidilyn Diaz
ANGELES CITY – Maybe unknown to many but our country’s newest pride Hidilyn Diaz is also a resident of this premier city and may launch a grassroot sports program with Mayor Carmelo Lazatin.
At the Balitaan media forum of Capampangan In Media Inc. and Clark Development Corporation, Lazatin said that Diaz, now a source of pride for this city with her Olympic gold medal in weightlifting, has also a house in one of the middle-end housing villages here.
“We met in 2017 after she won a silver medal in Rio (Olympics) and she has been so kind to give us advise in how to lift weights properly,” Lazatin said.
Lazatin, who is also into powerlifting and iron pumping , said that in her previous meeting with Diaz, has discussed with her a grassroots program on sports especially weightlifting when he was still just a councilor. The proposal has faced setback as he belonged then to the minority group in the City Council.
As a mayor now, he said he would revive the program where he intends to allocate funds.
“We intend to train coaches, like trainors’ training and then have this replicated in the barangay level. This is one sport where Philippines can haul medals as we don’t not need height,” Lazatin said
He said that he sent a viber nessage to Diaz upon her arrival about pursuing the plan for which she expressed willi ngness.
“Alam naman po ninyo kung gaano ko kamahal ang Angeles (at Pampanga)” Lazatin quoted Diaz”s reply in return.
Diaz, an enlisted personnel in the Philippine Air Force, is said to either been assigned or frequented Clark which is also considered one of the sporting destinations in the country.
Lazatin gave P200,000 cash incentive for winning the gold medal in the 55 kilo
with a better experience each time they travel. Together with the entire Metro Pacific Tollways (MPTC) group, we have made major improvements in our RFID system, ensuring that these systems are updated, and the right processes are in place,” NLEX Corporation President and General Manager J. Luigi Bautista said.
Toll Regulatory Board Executive Director Alvin Carullo agrees that these improvements are vital in ensuring that NLEX and SCTEX customers will be served the best way possible.
“We welcome these developments and continuous enhancements being undertaken by NLEX and MPTC for the benefit of the motoring public. And we envision that soon, our goal of having 100 percent cashless transactions in all expressways will become a reality,” Carullo said.
Aside from the RFID system upgrade, driver-friendly contactless terminals were also installed to address RFID scanner glitches; customers just need to tap their Easytrip card at these terminals to avoid unnecessary queuing at the toll lanes. Toll plaza personnel are also equipped with wireless handheld RFID scanners to process the RFID transactions as an additional measure.
Also, to further simplify customer access to their accounts, NLEX parent company, MPTC, has recently launched the RFID account balance checking via SMS. RFID subscribers only need to text BAL< space> 12-digit Easytrip account number then send to 09191601553. This is open to all networks with a nominal charge.
MPTC has also introduced the country’s first toll top-up using mobile load in partnership with Smart Communications. To reload, subscribers just have to key in EASY[DENOMINATION]< space> [12-DIGIT RFID ACCOUNT NUMBER] and send to 3279. Customers may load P100, P300, P500, or P1,000.
Last March, MPTC upgraded its customer account management system that enabled RFID subscribers to generate their own statement of account and enroll in the automatic debit arrangement to ensure sufficient load balance.
NLEX Corporation is a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC). #