Cebu City Division officials, athletes, and coaches pose for a group photo during the CVIRAA 2024 awarding ceremony. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City proved that it’s more than ready to host the Palarong Pambansa after boasting of a modernized and well-organized hosting of the recently concluded Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet 2024.
The meet that kicked off on Saturday, May 4, and wrapped up on Thursday, May 9, hosted a total of 10,638 athletes, coaches, and officials from the 20 DepEd divisions in Central Visayas.
A total of 28 sports events in 33 playing venues were scattered in Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Danao City throughout the meet.
READ: CVIRAA 2024: Cebu City Niños surpasses 2023 gold medal haul to remain overall champs
For Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Chairman John Pages, it was a daunting task that they wouldn’t have accomplished without the help of every stakeholder, volunteer, and personnel from the DepEd Cebu City, DepEd Region 7, Cebu City government, CCSC, and private sectors working together.
Pages mentioned that as a parent of a student-athlete back in the day, he knows the sentiments of the visiting athletes, coaches, and parents when competing away from home.
READ: CVIRAA 2024: Cebu City dominates ball games in meet’s final day
Thus, they made sure to roll out the red carpet for the visiting delegates.
CVIRAA innovations
One of the most noticeable innovations in the CVIRAA was its modernized and well-equipped command center where all the close-monitoring, real-time updates, and live streaming of games from day 1 all the way to the closing ceremony was aired through Meta.
READ: An appeal to DepEd: Make Palarong Pambansa more inclusive
Also, the playing venues were nothing short of being top-notch. The games were held inside malls, large university gymnasiums, and privately owned sports facilities to ensure the quality of the games.
In addition, the billeting quarters situated in public schools served the athletes a “home away from home” treatment.
“On behalf of the CVIRAA Organizing Committee, we are extremely happy with the turnout of the event,” said Pages.
READ: CVIRAA 2024: ANS, CEC hand Cebu City gold medals in basketball
“Hosting an event involving over 10,638 athletes, coaches, and officials representing 20 DepEd divisions and involving 28 sports and 33 playing venues is daunting. But our months of preparation have paid off. On behalf of the Cebu City team, we thank our partners in DepEd. Thank you to the hundreds of tournament officials, medical team volunteers, police and security personnel, referees, and judges; we thank our partner schools and malls for opening their playing venues to the Region 7 athletes. We thank the principals and teachers for creating a “home away from home” with our 20 billeting schools. We will be conducting a series of post-CVIRAA evaluations to prepare us for the even bigger tournament this July: the Palarong Pambansa,” he added.
Palarong Pambansa
The majority of the playing venues of CVIRAA will be used for Palarong Pambansa in July.
According to Pages, they will start fine-tuning and improving each aspect of their organizing and hosting for Palarong Pambansa.
READ: CVIRAA: Arnisadors tow Lapu-Lapu City to top of medal standings
Despite its near-perfect CVIRAA hosting, Cebu City experienced minor setbacks.
One was the ongoing renovation of the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) rubberized track oval.
It was supposedly planned to reopen earlier this year but was moved to a later date numerous times.
According to Pages, they will ensure that the oval will be more than ready before the Palarong Pambansa.
Spoiled food
In addition, reports that spoiled food was served to Talisay City’s delegation circulated online.
According to DepEd Cebu City’s assistant school’s division superintendent Dr. Adolf Aguilar, it was the Talisay delegation’s responsibility since the latter was the one that hired their preferred catering services and not the host city.
On top of that, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was slapped with a six-month preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman. Reports on his suspension came out on Wednesday, a day before the official end of the CVIRAA.
Still, the organizers of the Palarong Pambansa in Cebu City assured that everything is already in place and Rama’s suspension won’t affect the city’s hosting.
Cebu City reigned supreme anew in the final medal tally with 118 gold medals, 75 silvers, and 80 bronzes.
Dumaguete City (41-46-33) and Bohol Province (39-51-59) placed second and third, respectively.