THE Cebu City and the Cebu Province will unite for a successful hosting of the Philippine National Games (PNG) set to unfold from May 19 to 26 with the competitions to be held mainly at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).
After 21 years, Cebu will once again host the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-backed national multi-sporting meet that will feature 21 sporting events. The last time that the PNG was held here was in 1997.
The meet was supposed to happen last December but PSC decided to move it to this May to give them time to prepare and coordinate with the local government units (LGUs) of Cebu City and Cebu Province.
Both LGUs, through their sports commissions, promised to provide their full support to the PSC for the overall success of this national sporting meet that serves as one of the official tryouts for Philippine national teams.
The PSC-recognized National Sporting Associations (NSA) will be officiating each of the 21 sporting events that will be featured in this week-long competition that will be held in various venues in and outside Cebu City.
PSC commissioner for the Visayas Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez told Cebu Daily News that the role of the two LGU’s is crucial to the success of PNG which will field some 8,500 athletes from various cities and towns all over the Philippines.
“I am pretty much confident that we will successfully host this major multi-sporting event because we have the partnership with the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) and the Cebu Provincial Sports Commission (CPSC). We all know that these two sports commissions are well experienced in handling major sporting events here in Cebu so I am confident that they will both help us in PSC in making this event successful. We will minimize whatever kinks or errors that will occur during the event,” said Fernandez.
CPSC already allocated P100,000 for each sporting event that it will be hosting outside Cebu City.
CPSC Sports Development Officer III Brando Velasquez revealed to CDN that they have chosen the City of Naga in the south, Danao City in the north and Tabuelan town in northwest Cebu to host several sporting events for PNG.
The city of Naga will host the weightlifting and the lawn tennis event, the mountain bike competition will be in Danao while Tabuelan will be the venue for for triathlon and road cycling.
“We also tapped (the) Department of Education to prepare schools for the billeting of the athletes,” said Velasquez.
CCSC Chairman Edward Hayco, meanwhile, who is busy handling Cebu City’s grassroots sports program and the unified training for Central Visayas athletes bound for Palarong Pambansa on April 15 in the City of Vigan in Ilocos Sur told CDN that they will help PSC through their organizational skills.
He said that they are still finalizing the support that they will be giving for the PNG.
National team members can choose to represent their respective hometowns or LGUs for the upcoming meet wherein the LGU who will top the medal standings will receive P500,000 cash assistance for its sports program from the PSC. The second placer will get P400,000, P300,000 for the third placer and P200,000 for the fourth placer.
The cash assistance is not included in the total budget allocated by the PSC for the PNG which amounts to P61-million. Fernandez added that the budget could increase as the meet draws closer which will be used for logistical purposes.
A coordination meeting will be held next Tuesday, March 27 at the CCSC between the hosts and PSC officials from Manila to prepare the venues and to discuss other important matters for the PNG.