Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez (extreme right) with the special guests in the opening ceremonies of the Batang Pinoy 2019 Visayas Regional Finals at the Iloilo Sports Complex. CDN Digital photo | Mars G. Alison
ILOILO CITY, Philippines – Following talks last year that it will be stopped, Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) commissioner Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez assured that the Batang Pinoy or the Philippine National Youth Games will continue because it is the foundation of the grassroots program.
“It’s really the clamor of the LGUs to continue this (Batang Pinoy). Since we came into the picture in mid 2016, we went around the whole country convincing the LGUs (local government units) to come up with their own programs, so it is also not good to stop it. We were the ones to encourage them, then ihunong ra diay? So we cannot,” said Fernandez in an interview with the Cebu media prior to the opening ceremonies of the Batang Pinoy 2019 Visayas Regional Finals held here.
According to Fernandez, the Batang Pinoy has been successful as it has produced some of the members of the Philippine national team.
“Well, basically we’re hoping we can find new talents from among these kids, that’s basically the whole idea of this program, to continue feeding the NSAs (National Sports Association), helping them look for new talents,” added Fernandez.
The PSC commissioner added that the Batang Pinoy is held in line with the Department of Education’s (DepEd) programs, which is the Palarong Pambansa and the different regional tournaments.
Fernandez added that they should also be able to improve the week-long multi-sporting event by perhaps choosing focused sports.
“Personally, I really feel that we really have to continue and in fact improve on this, I’ve been pushing for choosing focused sports, I think para nako, looking at the Olympics which is really our goal of these programs, we should have a limited focus sports lang,” said Fernandez.
This is also in consideration of the fact that PSC funding is not enough which is also why they want the program for the elite athletes to be handled by the NSAs.
“They should not rely on PSC for funding they should be able to get funding for themselves,” said Fernandez.
For now, Fernandez said that they will continue to work with DepEd to iron out the scheduling of the games.
The start of the Batang Pinoy Visayas Regional Finals was scheduled just one day apart from the final day of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet, which was held in Dumaguete City.
This was the reason why last year’s overall champion, Cebu City delegation, had to come here in three batches because 70 percent of its athletes also competed in the CVIRAA Meet, which is the selection for Central Visayas delegates to this summer’s Palarong Pambansa in Davao City.
“Basically the problem that we’re having is the scheduling of the games, considering the DepEd program also, that’s why we are talking continuously with the DepEd to streamline our schedules kay lisod sad kaayo magsige absent ang mga bata,” said Fernandez.
He added that the best time to hold these games would be summer but the summer is too short because a lot of tournaments are also held in the summer, said Fernandez, who added that they still hope to hold the Batang Pinoy National finals in the summer.
Usually, the national finals is held in the fourth quarter of the year.
The winners in the regional finals—Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will advance to the national finals, which has no venue and date yet for this year. /bmjo