ILOILO — Three young swimmers from Pototan National Comprehensive High School (PNCHS) made waves at the Batang Pinoy 2025 National Finals after clinching medals in their respective swimming events held in General Santos City from October 25 to 31, 2025.
Representing Western Visayas, the trio — all proud Pototan natives — secured bronze medals in their categories. Frenz Enrique Pasadilla bagged bronze in the 50-meter backstroke, Jan Renier Pasadilla in the 100-meter backstroke, while John Merck Millan earned two bronze medals in both the 50-meter and 100-meter backstroke events.
Guided by their coach Doren Ducthilla and trainer Rho Ducthilla, the young swimmers carried the banner of Iloilo Province with pride as they competed against the country’s best youth athletes.
This year’s Batang Pinoy National Finals drew a record 19,700 athletes from 191 local government units (LGUs) competing across 27 sports disciplines, including aquatics-swimming, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball (3×3), boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport, futsal, gymnastics, jiu-jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, muay thai, pencak silat, sepak takraw, soft tennis, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling, and wushu.
Meanwhile, Baguio City is poised for a successful title redemption, leading the unofficial medal tally as of November 1 with 59 gold, 41 silver, and 52 bronze medals for a total of 152. The former four-time overall champion excelled particularly in combat sports and archery, anchored by quadruple-gold medalist Chass Mhavien Colas.
Pasig City, which dethroned Baguio in Palawan last year, currently sits in second place with 53 gold, 37 silver, and 51 bronze medals, while Manila City rounds out the Top 3 with 39-36-31. Davao City (38-36-51) and Sta. Rosa City, Laguna (29-24-22) completes the Top 5 of the biggest Batang Pinoy edition in history.
All official results for this year’s national youth games are available on the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) website, marking a shift to digital result dissemination—a modernization from the printed format used in previous years./PN
