Cebu City track oval issue: No formal probe conducted, says Garcia

The CCSC oval. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The City Government did not conduct a “formal investigation” in finding out who is the accountable for the track oval discrepancy at the Cebu City Sports Center.

This was the response of Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia after Councilor Mary Ann Delos Santos filed a resolution last Wednesday to request Garcia’s office to submit the result of the investigation on claims of the ‘substandard’ track oval.

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Delos Santos aired this concern in her privilege speech on Wednesday when she also congratulated the city in hosting the Palarong Pambansa 2024.

Despite the success, Delos Santos mentioned the importance of bringing up the errors that transpired during the event, and among those was the issue on the track oval.

“Indeed, an oversight in the placement of lane lines represents a significant error in a critical component of the games, as a result, 11 of the 13 athletic event records broken during the Palaro were not recognized, impacting 19 athletes from five regions. Yet no one has come forward to apologize for the critical error. Why has no one taken ownership of this mistake and apologize? If we give credit where credit is due shouldn’t we also ask where the buck stops, where responsibility and accountability are sought,” the councilor said.

Delos Santos also said that “the media cannot be blamed for highlighting the critical error.”

She emphasized that knowing the errors would be the basis of the city for improvement in handling future events like this.

“I am genuinely disheartened by the oversight that led to the non-recognition of the record breaking performance at this Palarong Pambansa,” she further said.

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No investigation

And in a press conference on Monday, Garcia told reporters that no formal investigation was conducted on the matter.

“First of all, we did not really conduct a formal investigation on the matter kay ang nahitabo man gud ani, if we ask the contractor, the contractor would blame it on the marker. But the marker would just say, technical committee man nihatag namo sa specifications. Nisunod ra man mi sa specifications, why blame us?” Garcia said.

(First of all, we did not really conduct a formal investigation on the matter because what happened was that if we ask the contractor, the contractor would blame it on the market. But the market would just say, the technical committee were the ones who gave us the specifications. We only followed the specifications given to us, why blame us?)

But he assured that they would still “try to get to the bottom” of the issue, noting that the technical committee is composed of experts, “some of them are members of PATAFA (Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association) like Jeanette Obiena, the national event’s technical consultant.

Garcia said he was also confused why Obiena said that the oval was “substandard” when she oversaw the markings.

“Anyway, ang ako lang ba, di na nato ni tas-on, move on na gyud ta,” he said.

(Anyway, for me, we will not just prolong this, let us just move on.)

Instructions given for major oval repairs

He added that he had already given instructions that right after the Pasigarbo sa Sugbo would take place in the Cebu City Sports Center on August 25, they woud temporarily close the oval for a few weeks for the “major” repairs and they would have it cured properly.

Garcia said he would also request an independent surveyor to be there 24/7 to ensure that there would be no critical errors anymore in the markings.

Sports officials revealed during the final day of the Palarong Pambansa, July 16, that the CCSC track oval was short by 0.88 meters from its exact 400-meter measurement.

Cebu City Sports Commission Chairman John Pages said that the discrepancy was mainly due to inaccuracies in lane painting.

As a result, Pages said that the 100-meter hurdles record would be honored as it would fall within the straight-line measurement.

However, records for distances beyond 100 meters would not be part of the Palarong Pambansa records, though athletes would still receive their gold, silver, and bronze medals.

This left record-breaker athletes coming to grips with the frustration of having their records voided, triggering urgent calls for better management and stricter standards in future competitions of this magnitude.