LAOAG City—Several Philippine junior marks went down after Bacolod bet Mico Villaran, Tarlac standout Alfred Taplacido and Antique’s pride Josh Gabriel Salcedo ruled their respective events in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa athletics’ meet at the Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium in Ilocos Norte.
The 17-year-old Mico Villaran from Region 6, redeemed himself from a frustrating campaign last year when he first smashed a 15-year-old meet record in the secondary boys’ 110-meter hurdles with his 14-second performance.
Villaran, who won three gold medals last year via records that weren’t recognized, erased the previous best Palaro time of 14.68-second clocking set by Patrick Unso way back in 2010 in Tarlac.
A decade-old national junior mark of 14.23 seconds set by Francis Medina in the 2015 National Open was also broken by Villaran.
Talplacido, representing Region 3, improved his seventh-place finish in the Philippine Open, as he submitted a time of 48.1 seconds in the secondary boys’ 400-meter run. The time was lower than the 48.7-second showing of Jomar Udtohan in 2014.
Taplacido’s time also eclipsed the Philippine junior clocking of 48.81 seconds in 1993 during the UAAP trackfest.
On the other hand, Salcedo smashed a two-year-old mark in the secondary boys’ discus throw with his 45.52-meter heave, surpassing both the Palaro mark of Western Visayas bet Airex Villanueva (42.82) and the national mark of Arnel Ferrera set in 1991 during the Philippine Open at 44.35.
Meanwhile, Jhul Ian Cañalita of Central Visayas crossed the finish line in 15 minutes and 16.31 seconds in the secondary boys’ 5000-meter run for a new Palaro record.
Cañalita, who is from Bohol, smothered the previous record of 15:38.4 set by Cresencio Cabal of Southern Mindanao in the 1998 Palaro in Bacolod City.
The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association is currently consolidating its youth records, to follow with the new format of the World Athletics and will ratify the records set.
