BETTER PALARO

Athletes of Region 4-B use umbrellas to shield themselves from the searing heat of the sun during the opening of the recent 60th Palarong Pambansa in Antique province. One of the proposed changes that the Department of Education is planning to implement in the next Palaro is the holding of the opening ceremonies at 5 p.m. to protect the athletes from the hot temperature.

DepEd official crafts 16 proposals to improve Palarong Pambansa

In its bid to improve the succeeding stagings of the annual Palarong Pambansa, the Department of Education (DepEd) has come up with several “proposed changes” which may be implemented in the 61st edition of the weeklong, multi-sporting event next year.

The 16 proposals made by Undersecretary for Administration Alain Del B. Pascua have been sent to DepEd regional directors, assistant regional directors, schools division superintendents, assistant schools division superintendents and school sports coordinators/Physical Education (PE) teachers.

“In order that these may be formalized into resolutions to be filed by the undersigned for consideration of the Palarong Pambansa Bpard, the Undersecretary for Administration hereby requests your comments and opinions on these proposed changes, as well as your respective recommendations, suggestions and/or additions thereto,” said Pascua in his letter.

In one of his proposals, Pascua suggested that the selection of the Palaro venue should be made two years before the event for longer preparation.

Hence, the nomination/submission of letters of intent of interested venues for the 2018 and 2019 Palaro and the screening and selection should be done from June 1 to July 30, 2017.

Thereafter, the selection will be done in the same months following the closing of that year’s Palaro, Pascua said.

Also, Pascua suggested that the Palaro should be made exclusive for elementary and secondary athletes from public schools who have competed in regional and local meets since athletes from private schools already have the Private Schools Athletic Association tournament.

Previous editions of the Palaro were marred by students falling ill due to the searing hot of the sun.

With this, Pascua is proposing that the opening ceremonies of the Palaro should start at 5 p.m.

Billeting schools, sports venues and operation centers should be equipped with mobile cellular cites five days before and during the entire duration of the Palaro, Pascua suggested.

The rest of Pascua’s proposals are as follows:

Development of one Palaro design of all uniforms of athletes and officials to promote one brand and identity but with different colors and shades to represent the region; establishment of a point system for the score tally of gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to an individual or team sport event; conduct of solidarity games for defeated teams with the objective of selecting players to form an All-Star Palaro team that will challenge the champion teams (basketball, volleyball and other teams sports); use of regional names and moniker/symbols, if any, as delegation names; identification of areas where billeting facilities and sports venues will be developed for the Palarong Pambansa; conduct of research and study on the relevance and contribution of the Palaro to the National Sports Development; establishment of sports program for student-athletes in the Alternative Learning System; development of a set of world-class sports facilities per province, conduct of guided tours on the second to fifth day to promote tourism, culture and art of the host region; showing of sports-related and/or historical moves every night in billeting areas for relaxation and complementary education; conduct of sports clinic by top sports personalities and publication of a coffee table book in 2021 to feature photographs and articles of and by students and to have journalism/photo events or contests during the 2018-2020 Palaro.

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