The PhilHealth Shooting Team emerged as champion in the Classic Division and ranked 2nd runner up in the Overall Team Competition during the Government Corporation Athletics Association (GCAA) 2015 Inter-Agency Shoot Fest held last May 28-29, 2015 at the Philippine Air Force Firing Range, Villamor Air Base, Pasay City.

PhilHealth joined this annual shooting competition alongside agencies like the National Food Authority (NFA), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA).

In 2008, PhilHealth drew efforts of forming its own pool of shooters and joined its first shooting competition a year after, where the team topped in the Single Stack Category.

It was only this year that they made a major comeback with a 17-person team, composed of two shooters each coming from NCR, PRO IVA and PRO XII, five from PRO X and six from PRO XI.

Even so, this long hiatus did not cripple their drive to excel and bring home the bacon.

PRO XI’s Leo Antonio Aristoza and Filbert Bryan Sollesta grabbed the top two spots in the Over-all Classic Division, scoring 586 and 585 points, respectively. Sollesta, the team captain, also came in first in the Man vs. Man Steel Challenge Event. John David Tabligan, another PRO XI pride settled for 4th place with 482 points.

Top scorers from the Classic Division Team also include Fahad Tomawis garnering 374 points and Arneil Subibi with 343 points. Sharing the honors are MMG-OIC Alberto Manduriao, Arlon Jalbuena Bables, Jonathan Javelosa, Renato Dela Cruz, Joseph Lim and Alvin Gambao.

Meanwhile, PhilHealth also landed 3rd runner up in the Standard Division with the joint efforts of Area IV AVP Datu Masiding Alonto Jr., PRO XI RVP Dennis Adre, Raul Isabelo Monsanto, Renan delos Santos, Allan Panolong, Benhur Asuncion, and Abdul Obedi Alip.

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In the Team vs. Team Steel Challenge Event, the PhilHealth Classic and the Production Teams were awarded 1st runner up.

According to Sollesta, with little time for preparation, it was a big challenge to build cohesion among the regional squads. They had to resort to individual practices and only had a day of group training. They were also faced with minor issues on their gun licenses and ended up sharing their firearms with each other as recourse.

“Nevertheless, everyone pushed themselves hard to contribute to the overall performance. It was really a team effort,” he shared.

Coupled with the support of the whole corporation and fuelled by the desire to win, the team fared very well in this year’s competition. Needless to say, it was definitely a proud winning moment for the entire PhilHealth family. (END) (Kleah Gayle Dublin)