CCSC agrees: No more political rallies in sports complex

By: Delta Dyrecka Letigio - 3 years ago

Cebu City Sports Complex oval track.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The manager of the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) agrees with Mayor Michael Rama that large political rallies should no longer be held at the sports facility because it impedes its operations and does not pay much anyway.

Jovito Taborada, the manager of the sports complex, said in a press conference that they no longer accepted political gatherings, especially those that gather a huge crowd, since the mayor issued a ban on such activities being held in civic spaces.

The last political event at the CCSC was the Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan’s (BOPK) campaign rally in support of the vice-presidential candidacy of Senate President Vicente Sotto, III.

Taborada said that while they earn from political rallies, many of the organizers ask to have the entrance fee waived. This is supposedly where the income of the sports complex comes from.

This means that political rallies do not really provide as much income to the CCSC considering the cost of maintenance for such events.

“Kung gamay okay ra. Pero di man sad kaayo income generating kay kasagaran ilang i-waive ang entrance. Ang tawo sad daghan kaayo,” said Taborada.

As of now, the CCSC only has around 25 to 30 regular staff and up to 50 total staff that can be called to work in case of bigger events.

For now, the management is focusing on reopening all its facilities to earn more income so it can also repair the damages caused by the two storms that recently hit the city, typhoon Odette and TD Agaton.

The oval track has been open for months now, bringing in the majority of the income of the facility. The studios have also reopened, while the pool will open again for trainers and athletes by Friday, April 23, 2022.

So far, the CCSC earns P30,000 per day from entrance fees, which is still half from the pre-pandemic earning of more than P60,000 per day.

In the last two months, CCSC has earned P1.3 million from entrance fees, political events, concerts, and donations.

They conducted a donation drive to fix the facility, which was heavily damaged by Typhoon Odette. The money was used to repair the roof of the bleachers area.

Taborada is hoping that as they open more facilities, athletes and their trainers will soon return so that more they can earn more, which would translate to providing better service.

Meanwhile the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cebu City said that banning political events in civic spaces is the prerogative of the local government unit (LGU).

Marilou Paredes, the acting election officer of the South District, said that the mayor has the prerogative to allow or disallow political gatherings in certain areas of the city.

LGUs may have reasons to disallow events, such as what Rama has decreed for Plaza Independencia, CCSC, and Fuente Osmeña Circle, due to traffic, peace and order, or crowd control.

/bmjo