Pasig City came out on top after a tight race in the medal standings and claimed its second straight overall championship in the 2025 Batang Pinoy held in General Santos City.
It was a close contest through the first three days of the competition but the defending champions emerged as the big winner by a small margin behind strong showing in gold-rich events gymnastics and chess.
Pasig City, inspired by the visit of Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto, collected 95 golds, 72 silvers and 87 bronzes to edge Baguio City which after a four-year reign has now settled for a second straight bridesmaid finish after garnering 91 golds, 72 silvers and 74 bronzes.
Tchelzy Mei Maayo and Hilarion Palles III led the way for Pasig, which copped a total of 25 golds in gymnastics with the two being accounted for 10 of those gold mints
Maayo got five golds and a bronze in women’s artistic gymnastics while Palles also got five golds, a silver and a bronze. King CJay Pernia also contributed to Pasig City’s huge gold mine in gymnastics with four golds and three silvers in the men’s side while Princess Lara Aquino had a three-gold, two-silver haul in rhythmic gymnastics.
Aside from gymnastics, Team Pasig also got solid hauls in chess (10-12-4) and jiu-jitsu (6-10-13).
With another championship in the bag, Pasig City is receiving a P5 million cash prize from the Philippine Sports Commission.
“Tulad ng mga nag cicirculate na posts sa socmed, really, good governance goes a long way,” said Pasig City Special Assistant on Sports Development Leanne Alonso.
“‘Yung programa naman namin, hindi magiging sustainable if not for our city officials na naniniwala sa vision and mission namin para sa Pasig Sports,” she added as the Pasig delegates got the much-needed support from its local government unit with no less than mayor Vico Sotto even visiting the team in GenSan during the competitions.
Led by the six-gold haul of archer Abigail Lim, Davao City improved from its performances in the last edition, this time finishing third with 53 golds, 53 silvers and 68 bronzes. It dislodged Quezon City from its previous place to now at fourth with 45 golds, 51 silvers and 57 bronzes.
After competing for the top spot for the first few days, City of Manila slid to the fifth spot with 43 golds, 37 silvers and 32 bronzes – a huge chunk came from swimming.
The host city, General Santos City, came at the seventh spot (36-43-51) just behind No.6 City of Santa Rosa (38-29-30). City of Makati finished at the eight place (35-16-21), City of Cebu (31-32-52) at ninth and City of Zamboanga at the 10th spot (27-18-15).
