Cebu City, Philippines—The Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7) is determined to pursue the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) sporting meet in March, despite the opposition of Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia.
But the agency has moved the date of the multisporting event from March 15-21, 2020 to March 21-28, 2020 in Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental.
Read: CVIRAA meet postponed due to 2019-nCoV scare
The CVRIAA was originally scheduled on February 23-28, 2020.
DepEd-7 regional director Salustiano Jimenez said that they need to pursue the activity, since the winners of the CVRAA are those that will make up the team to represent Central Visayas in the Palarong Pambansa.
Jimenez said that he understand the opposition of Garcia, since she is only looking out for the welfare of the children amidst Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) scare.
Read: CVIRAA meet may still happen
But he assured the governor that precautionary measures will be implemented to avoid the spread of the virus.
“We already issued memos to activate the COVID-19 Task Force in each barangay while information dissemination are being conducted and we also be teaching students about proper hygiene such proper hand washing to avoid the spread of the virus,” Jimenez said.
On February 24, 2020, DepEd issued a memorandum lifting the suspension of school activities that would entail gathering of students and teachers that was implemented early February. /bmjo