1HE ONE | Jesson Ramil Cid: Pinoy Decathlon Gold Medalist – 27th SEA Games

Jesson Ramil Cid, a native of Barangay Suyo, Dingras, Ilocos Norte, was one of the country’s four rookie athletes who won a gold medal in his sports discipline in the 27th Southeast Asian (ASEAN) Games in Myanmar last December 2013.

In men’s decathlon, Cid amassed 7,038 points over the 10 events to outclass seven-man filed and win the gold.

A decathlon is composed of 10 track-and-field athletic events: 100 meter dash, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meter dash, 110 meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin, and 1,500 meter run.

He set a new record of 7,038 points in the field, breaking the previous record of 6,963 points set 12 years ago by another Filipino decathlete Fidel “Toto” Gallenero.

Cid’s feat awarded him the title of “New Iron Man” by the SEA Games.

He first tried basketball when he was young.

The 21-year old decathlete was a star at the Ilocos Region Athletic Association (IRAA) meets.

Cid competed in high jump and long jump with modest success as a high school student.

He played for Far Eastern University and reigned over athletic events at the Universities Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) for five years.

During his final year, Cid won the 200 and 400 meters and men’s long jump apart from helping his team win the 4 x 100-meter relay. He was later named Most Valuable Player (MVP).

This son of a high school principal and a school staff obtained an education degree in October.

The Philippines finished its bid at 7th place out of 11 nations with 29 gold medals, 34 silver and 37 bronze medals, behind Singapore.

His brother Anthony Carlo and sister Maurin Ylla Angeli are also into sports. They got their interest in sports from their father who played football and baseball.

He plans to improve his performance in pole vault and throwing events.

Cid is setting his eyes to represent the Philippines in the Olympics.

“I am happy that I have represented Philippines during the 27^thSEA Games, but I still need to work hard to join bigger competitions. I will not stop, instead I will work hard and pray, and hopefully someday, I can compete in the Olympics.”

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About the Author

Paul Michael JaramilloChief Executive Editor

PJ is a CPA, writer, storyteller, environment and youth advocate. As a writer, his articles on national development were published in a Spanish newspaper and local news network Rappler. As a storyteller and environment advocate, his documentary films on mining and environment were featured by ABS-CBN News and GMA News. He launched his career as a CPA at KPMG in the Philippines in late 2015. He started his professional journey as an external auditor of a global workspace provider (the largest audit client of KPMG in the Philippines), global bank, leading MFCG in the Philippines and a number of shared service centres. As an auditor, his team won the KPMG Asia-Pacific Data & Analytics Challenge and coached the Philippine team that placed third to the KPMG GlobalRunner Cup. More than two years later, he led KPMG in the Philippines’ Network of Audit Innovators and Data & Analytics Champions and its academic arm, while serving as a member of the KPMG Asia-Pacific Audit Digital Transformation Workstream. He served as a member of the Audit Methodology Group and Root Cause Analysis Team of KPMG in the Philippines. He was a regular training facilitator of KPMG on audit methodology, innovation, data and analytics, professional standards and regulatory updates. He also served as a coach for newly promoted supervisors. PJ was also the Firm’s System of Quality Management Implementation Manager and a Workforce of the Future Champion. He was also a Sampling Specialist of the Firm. In 2019, PJ was a member of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA)’s Technical Working Group on Audit Methodology. PJ led in developing some of the innovative solutions of KPMG in the Philippines. Above all, PJ is a people investor. He invests on people who have potential and talents. That makes him a coach and mentor to some young professionals in the profession and served as a People Committee member of KPMG in the Philippines. He leads advocacy projects that help communities. He produces vlogs thru his YouTube channel, PJspirations which features stories of different individuals. As a volunteer, he is the Academic Master and Head Coach of PREMIER International Learning and Development Center, which provides coaching, mentoring, training and learning programs and platforms that promote growth and development in every individual’s life and career. He is also with the Middle East and Caspian regions of KPMG as a member of its Professional Practice group and Audit L&D for the Saudi Levant Cluster, providing subject matter knowledge and guidance on audit methodology, and learning and development programs to its offices. He is a proud Ilocano and a graduate of Northwestern University.

He also conducts #IamRemarkable sessions, a program initiated by Google for women and underrepresented groups.