Palaro closing
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City’s hosting of the Palarong Pambansa 2024 offered glimpses of things never before seen in the history of the national games for student-athletes.
In an interview prior to the closing ceremony of Palarong Pambansa on Tuesday, July 16, John Pages, Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Chairman and one of the meet’s main organizers said that the city’s hosting exceeded the Palarong Pambansa theme; “Beyond Sports” and even went “beyond Cebu.”
“So our theme of ‘Beyond Sports’ also can mean ‘Beyond Cebu’ because only so many can come and watch the actual games and we’ve been able to reach out not just to the whole Philippines, but to the whole world,” Pages said
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Pages also noted how Cebu City Palaro hosting had set records and amassed impressive social media engagement numbers.
The official Facebook page of Palarong Pambansa and its posts amassed 4.5 million engagements, a reach of 8.9 million, and 45.6 million impressions which is never-before-seen in the history of games.
Pages also detailed the many ‘firsts’ that were introduced this year, foremost of which is the Media Center located inside the Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) which was equipped with multiple screens for the simultaneous live streaming of all games.
Also considered firsts were the fast transmission of results that would reflect directly in the medal tally, the holding of the Mayor’s Night where mayors from different delegations gather and break bread together as well as the mounting of the Palarong Pambansa application for easier tracking of results, game schedules, venues and everything about the Palaro.
Pages explained that in the previous editions of the Palarong Pambansa, the host could only livestream a single game for a specific sport leaving out other sports.
“Our live stream is not just for a particular sport, it’s every playing venue, every playing court. For (example) Badminton, every particular Badminton court is broadcasted live. This is a first,” Pages stated.
“The very quick dissemination of the results. If there’s a result in particular, we see it right away. (In) previous Palaros, we were told they would have to print out a copy, (and) send it. But now, we’re able to broadcast it. So I think these are some of the wins that we have,” Pages said.
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When asked about the possibility of another Cebu City Palaro hosting, Pages answered that the closest would be 20 years from now.
He revealed that while the Visayas has the opportunity to host the meet once every four years, the problem is that the region is composed of so many cities and provinces who are also willing to host the games when the next cycle arrive.
Pages added that Bacolod City, Iloilo City, and Ormoc City have already expressed their desire to host the Palarong Pambansa when Visayas’ turn to host the meet comes.
“So that’s easily 12 years or more. So it has taken us 30 years to host again. For me, probably in the next 20 years or more because other cities in the Visayas are going to be very interested in hosting the games,” Pages said.