ATHLETES STRANDED: Trip of Cebu Province, Cebu City bets to Davao del Norte cancelled due to ‘Marce’

The delegates of both the Cebu City Niños and the Cebu Province bound for Tagum City, Davao del Norte, for the Batang Pinoy Nationals weren’t able to leave yesterday as their scheduled trip was canceled due to Tropical Depression “Marce.”
The entire Cebu province was put under signal no. 1 by the weather bureau yesterday.

Both teams were supposed to leave for Cagayan de Oro yesterday. From CdO, the teams were set to travel again via land to Tagum City, which would have taken another eight hours.

According to Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) official Gayle Dico, the 300 plus delegation of the Cebu City Niños will have to wait for the green light from the Philippine Coast Guard to sail to CdO. But that might take a while as TD Marce is expected to make landfall in Cebu today, which means the cancellation may not be lifted anytime soon.

The national multi-sporting event will run from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 in Davao del Norte.

“We are worried because the athletes will surely get exhausted because the opening ceremonies is on Sunday, and we estimated to arrive there on Saturday. We hope that the weather will be better in the next days,” Dico said.

Dico added that the team is coordinating with the local government unit of Cebu City for updates of TD Marce.

Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC) official Brando Velasquez, meanwhile, said the 95-strong delegation of Cebu Province is also waiting for the weather to get better.

Velasquez said that the Cebu Province has a total of 112 delegates, but some have taken the plane to Tagum City.

“We advised the coaches to standby for further updates. We have to wait for the Coast Guard’s go signal,” said Velasquez.