Palaro goes full blast; Cebu City Mayor Rama attends opening, refuses to wear BOPK-colored jacket

Laguna Gov. Jeorge ‘E.R.’ Ejercito Estregan delivers his speech. Behind him seated are Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama (in yellow) and Cavite congresswoman Lani Mercado-Revilla.
LITO TECSON

Sta. Cruz, Laguna—Competition in the 57th Palarong Pambansa goes full blast on Monday as most of the events get going in various venues here.
The event had its formal opening ceremonies yesterday at the Laguna Sports Complex.

Politics, however, reared its ugly head in the event when Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama reportedly refused to wear the jacket similar to the ones being worn by the athletes of the Central Visayas Athletic Association (Cviraa).

“Di ko ana kay BOPK na,” said a Cviraa official quoting Rama as saying. (I don’t like that because that’s BOPK.)

The Cviraa official, who asked not to be named, said Rama opted to wear a sweat shirt issued to Cviraa officials.

Rama was supposed to wear a jacket and jogging pants whose dominant colors are yellow and blue, the campaign colors used by the mayor’s arch-rival Tomas Osmeña, leader of Bando Osmena-Pundok Kauswagan (BOPK).

The sweat shirt that Rama opted to wear had yellow sleeves with an orange stripe and a green outline on the left side. Green is the campaign color of Rama.

“He should have avoided putting political color in this kind of activity. This is sports. Politics has nothing to do with this,” said the Cviraa official.

The Cviraa official also said a streamer welcoming Rama was installed at the gate of the Unson Elementary School where the region 7 athletes are billeted but the mayor didn’t visit them.

Aside from Rama, other Cebu City officials who graced the opening ceremonies were Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgar Labella, City Councilors Gerry Carillo and Hans Abella.

Former President Joseph Estrada was also in attendance along with Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro and Laguna Gov. Jeorge “E.R.” Ejercito Estregan.

Figure skater Michael Christian Martinez carries the torch during the official opening of the Palarong Pambansa 2014 at the Laguna Sports Center.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

Meanwhile, Region 7 looks to win more medals in chess when the standard event fires off today at the Sangguniang Panlalawigan Conference Hall.

Region 7’s first medals came from the chess elementary team last Sunday behind Chris Aldritz Pondoy, the competition’s first double gold winner. He won gold in the individual blitz category and paired with Jeremy Tanudra in winning gold in the team event.

Some of the few games played yesterday saw Region 7 pocketing its second straight win in the secondary football after it trounced Region 3, 13-2. The team came from an easy 9-1 triumph over Region 2.

The win, however, proved costly after three players suffered various injuries.

Emmanuel Gingoyon left in the first half bloodied after he was kneed by a Region 3 player on the nose. Ngitz Lovitos followed suit after suffering a knee injury. Kier Agot was also lifted out of the playing field after hurting his left foot.

“Those injuries will definitely hurt our chances of winning the championship since they were part of my first 11. Necessary adjustments have to be made if they won’t be able to suit up in our remaining games,” said football coach Glen Ramos.