ALL SMILES: From left: Joel Garganera (EOC Chief), Cebu City Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros, and CCSC Chairman John Pages. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines—After two years of lockdown, the Cebu City government finally allows the staging of sporting activities and events in all levels for vaccinated individuals.
This was officially announced by Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Chief Joel Garganera and newly appointed Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Chairman John Pages in a virtual press conference on Friday, February 25, 2022.
During the virtual presser, they were joined by Cebu City Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros.
“We have three important words to announce today, ‘Sports is back! It’s been two years already since the lockdown started. Everyone is excited to be back in sports. We all know physical activity is a key element to strengthen our immune system to fight Covid-19, so the revival of sports is very important,” said Pages.
Guidelines
During the presser, Pages pointed out two key points that Cebuano sports stakeholders should follow.
First they will be releasing a guideline from EOC comprising of the rules and regulations. This set of guidelines is tailored for each sport considering not all sports have the same rules, style and playing venue.
Second, they encourage all sports organizers in and outside Cebu to register their upcoming events with the CCSC and the EOC online so they can provide them the guidelines.
Pages said that they will provide the guidelines and the registration websites to Cebu City’s sports stakeholders and organizers in the next coming days.
Included in the guidelines that they will announce soon is whether to allow partially-vaccinated individuals or only fully-vaccinated individuals to play sports.
“We will come up with a set of guidelines and recommendations as well as rules for each sport in the next few weeks or days. We are also going to inform sports organizers to register their event online to CCSC and EOC. That is our initial plans now that we’re allowing sports in Cebu City,” said Pages.
For his part, Garganera said that they’ve been planning the implementation to allow Cebu City to hold sports again since November.
However, it was delayed due to Typhoon Odette in December and the Omicron variant surge earlier this year.
Garganera revealed during the presser that there are only 498 active cases or 4.29 percent positivity rate in Cebu City, which is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) threshold.
“Ubos na sa 498 active cases ang Cebu City. It is below WHO’s threshold which is 4.29 percent positivity rate. Padung na gyud ta sa pag ubos, so we have more reasons nga ablihon ang sports ug balik sa Cebu City. Pero before mi naka decide ana, daghan ta ug meeting and convergence sa mga stakeholders, businesses, Association of Barangay Councilors, PNP, the health sector and CCSC,” said Garganera.
Hontiveros, a former PBA player and one of the more noted sports icons in Cebu, is excited with this development.
“Pwede na gyud. Allowed na gyud ta makaduwa ug balik ug sports. Dili na ta mag tago-tago. We waited also sa target number nato sa mga na vaccinated before mi ni decide nga mag open na ug balik ang sports,” said Hontiveros.
They are also planning to adjust the permit fees for sports organizers who are planning to hold their sporting events in Cebu City, according to Garganera.
they are doing this because they know that organizers are also affected financially by the pandemic. They are planning to adjust the payment period for those applying for permits, including other payments such as traffic enforcers fees, and etc.
In the meantime, the EOC and CCSC are urging those who will play sports to maintain minimum health protocols as they have yet to reveal the guidelines.
/bmjo
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