HOMETOWNWELCOME Despite the poor weather, residents of Tacloban City went out to give boxer Aira Villegas, a bronze medalist in this year’s Paris Olympics, a warm welcome as her motorcade passes through the city’s major streets on Thursday. —PHOTO COURTESY OF TRAVELASIA

TACLOBAN CITY – The local government here gave a hero’s welcome to Taclobanon boxing Olympian Aira Villegas, a resident who won a bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.

Villegas returned to the city on Thursday and was brought around the city in a motorcade attended by throngs of residents who gave her a warm welcome, befitting her stature as the first Olympian medalist from Eastern Visayas.

The 29-year-old boxer also received incentives amounting to more than P9 million.

The city government led by Mayor Alfred Romualdez and his son, Councilor Raymund Romualdez, each gave P1 million to Villegas.

On Friday, Villegas, the youngest of four siblings, also received from Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez and his wife, Tingog party list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, a Mitsubishi Expander worth P1.4 million and a P6-million brand-new house and lot in Palo town, Leyte.

Villegas, who began her journey to worldwide success in boxing at the age of 16, was overjoyed, not only by the reception she received from her townmates, but also by the incentives she received.

“I am overwhelmed,” she said during a media interview at the City Hall after an almost two-hour motorcade on Thursday. “To say thank you is not enough. I offer this medal to all the Taclobanons.” Students and ordinary citizens lined along the streets where Villegas’ motorcade passed.

The Olympic bronze medalist was quick to dedicate all the blessings she received to her family: “I miss them so much, and I am offering this blessing—more than I expected, really—to my family.”