(From left to right) Atty. Fiel Almendra, DepEd-8 assistant director; CCSC chairman John Pages; Sal Jimenez, DepEd-7 director; DepEd Schools Division Superintendent Nimfa Bongo; and DepEd Cebu City Assistant Schools Division Superintendent Adolf Aguilar answer questions from the Cebu media. | CDN Digital photo / Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Cebu City rolled its red carpet for over 1,500 athletes, coaches and officials of the Palarong Pambansa National Pre-Qualifying Meet – Cluster 3 which officially unfolded on Wednesday, June 14.
In partnership with the Department of Education in Central Visayas (DepEd-7), the DepEd Cebu City Schools Division through the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) vowed to provide the visiting regions top-notch hosting of eight batted and ball sports.
Amidst the excitement and intense competition, Cebu City’s hosting is primarily aimed at making an impression that it is highly capable of hosting the 2024 Palarong Pambansa.
In fact, Cebu City was one of the three Visayan cities, including Bacolod and Iloilo, that placed its bids to host next year’s Palarong Pambansa.
Cebu City is now a step ahead of the other bidders after earning the right to host the pre-qualifying meet that will be participated by student-athletes from Region 6 (West Visayas), Region 7 (Central Visayas), Region 8 (East Visayas), and Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula).
“As early as now, the [Cebu] city government is preparing the venue and all. In fact, nag sugod na ug repair for the Palaro 2024. As what Mayor Mike Rama said, as long as we’re together, we can make great things happen. We are always in that direction. I’m very positive of that we’re hosting the Palaro 2024,” said DepEd-7 Director Sal Jimenez in a presser held on Wednesday.
Jimenez revealed that the last time that Region 7 hosted the Palarong Pambansa was in 2013 in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, and prior to that was in Cebu City in 1994.
For CCSC chairman John Pages, they are on the right direction in their bid to host the Palarong Pambansa in terms of venue, hosting experience, support, and preparation.
“We really have the full support of the city government. That’s one of the most important thing to us. This pre-qualifying meet is a prelude to the Palarong Pambansa hosting and we’re very happy to say that our collaboration between the Cebu City government, Region 7 and DepEd Cebu City has really been excellent,” said Pages.
“We had a month to prepare for this event and we are ready. For me, we are really on the right track, last year we had hosted the Palarong Pambansa football and boxing event bubble and it was very successful. This year, we’re given another opportunity to showcase our hosting capabilities with the pre-qualifying meet. This event is very important for us to showcase that we are ready to host Palarong Pambansa,” he added.
The sports featured in the pre-qualifying meet are volleyball, softball, basketball, sepak takraw, futsal, baseball, softball, and football. Only the top two teams in each sport will advance to the Palarong Pambansa in Marikina City scheduled in July.
On the other hand, the Pre-Qualifying Meet’s opening ceremony is currently ongoing at the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USP-F) gymnasium as of this writing.
The games will start on Thursday in various venues in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue and these will continue until June 18.
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