Palarong Pambansa goes full blast

Athletes from the Central Visayas gather around a Sto. Niño image during the opening ceremony of the 2015 Palarong Pambansa at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex in Tagum City.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

Tagum City—The battle for supremacy between the country’s top elementary and secondary athletes starts Tuesday as action in the 58th Palarong Pambansa goes full blast in various venues here.
The annual multi-sporting event had its formal opening yesterday at the Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex.
Mar Roxas, secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, graced the affair as guest speaker but failed to deliver his speech as rain cut short the program.
Powerhouse National Capital Region (NCR) remains the favorite to rule the competition, while Region 4-A and Region 6 are also expected to fare well.
Region 7 is gunning to improve or at least duplicate its fourth place finish last year. The Central Visayas Regional Athletics Association (Cviraa) already has one gold under its belt courtesy of Shanelle Demilys Siasoyco, who ruled the secondary girls’ shot put event last Sunday.
Region 7 also has two bronze medals from Eunie Ginell Soronio in the women’s artistic gymnastics individual all around and Rei Christopher Padilla and Randy Familiar in the team event of the elementary men’s artistic gymnastics.
Some games were played last Sunday after the opening day was moved back to give the athletes the chance to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather fight.
Region 7 has been a consistent fourth-place finisher until it exceeded expectations in 2013 when it finished third as the host of the competition held in Dumaguete City.
In last year’s Palaro held in Laguna, Region 7 ranked fourth once more but had to go through the wringer as it had to bank on its silver medal harvest to edge out the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (Caraa) for the spot.
Retaining or improving its ranking will depend on how Cviraa will perform in the team sports, according to Dr. Vivian Ginete, chief of the Physical Education and School Sports in Central Visayas.
“We are not expecting medals in the first three days because we are relying on team sports. So far, we are doing well in the team sports,” Ginete said.
Yesterday, Cviraa pulled off a lopsided win in the secondary boys’ basketball after it whipped Region 5, 105-64.
The elementary boys also got off to a strong start after it nipped Region 10, 46-35, while the secondary girls drowned Region 2, 89-61.
Banking on the team sports as a main source for gold poses a big challenge for Cviraa.
“The crucial thing is that a team sport is only equivalent to one gold.  Next year we will push for a core medal tally system,” said Ginete. A team sport like basketball offers five golds under the core medal tally system.
For this year, the Department of Education allocated P7 million for Cviraa but Ginete said the amount is not enough.
“The budget is only good for about 10 days but we’ve been here for more than 10 days already,” she said.
Ginete said some divisions may give cash incentives to medal finishers.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, who graced the opening ceremonies, said he couldn’t say yet if cash incentives will be given to medal finishers who are from the city.
“If ever, incentives will be given only to athletes from Cebu City,” he said. “We need to win gold medals but it is more important that we use the Palaro to build character.”