An athlete successfully clears the bar in the secondary boys high jump competition of the ongoing Palarong Pambansa 2024 at the Cebu City Sports Center field on Saturday, July 13. | Christian Dave Cuizon
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Palarong Pambansa 2024 organizers expressed satisfaction with the way the meet is unfolding so far in Cebu City and neighboring LGUs.
Dr. Adolf Aguilar, the assistant schools division superintendent of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cebu City, said the city is doing well as the host of the country’s biggest gathering of student-athletes.
“Still the same answer, so far so good. We have medals already awarded during Day 1. The weather is quite good yesterday, although there were rains at night but we are able to finish the football competition here at the Cebu City Sports Center. So we have less complaints or less issues being raised to the organizers,” Aguilar told Cebu Daily News Digital on Saturday, July 13.
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Aguilar also said that although there were challenges like logistics, video streaming, internet connectivity, and similar setbacks, meet organizers were able to address these on time.
He admits that although they receive different concerns every day regarding the billeting areas where the regions are staying, he said they were able to promptly remedy these problems.
Most of the billeting challenges pertain to insufficient water supply, clogged toilets and the like.
“Everyday may iba’t-ibang concern and every day we also have our response to such concern. These are fumigation, water supply delivery ay mina-match naman natin whatever concern sa mga billeting areas,” he said.
When asked about the athletes’ health and safety, Aguilar said that Palarong Pambansa 2024 is just like any other big athletic competitions, where medical issues such as injuries, colds, and stomach aches happen. Good thing he said, s that these were remedied promptly.
“Because in competitions like this, normal po’ng may mga injuries, may mga sprains at kailangan i-address natin. So ‘yung fast lane natin sa Cebu City Medical Center, which is our primary hospital, ay gumagana naman at we were able to address whatever concerns nila adto” he added.
Aguilar also addressed the issue on possible dengue cases where it was reported that some athletes showed symptoms of the mosquito-borne disease.
He said that Palarong Pambansa 2024 organizers are currently looking into their medical records.
“So in terms of ‘yung sinabi ninyong may mga cases of dengue, these were traced. There’s a medical report that you can refer to from the organizing committee,” he said.
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On the other hand, Aguilar stated that they are still waiting for the reports from the technical committee of Palarong Pambansa 2024 regarding the issue of the track oval at Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).
It has been reported earlier that the rubberized track oval is two meters short of the standard 400 meters length.
In a separate interview, Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia assured that he would converse with the technical committees to hasten the resolution of issues surrounding the track oval.
Moreover, the acting mayor said that he would be very strict, especially on transportation concerns where taxi operators are caught overcharging Palarong Pambansa 2024 delegates.
He said he is in coordination with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) to conduct investigations.
“These operations will not stop. It will go on and on until we can find and catch more taxi drivers who are not following rules that are prescribed by not only LTO but our laws. So, I’m very serious about this,” he said.