Tracksters from USC and UC raced to a photo finish during the Cesafi athletic meet last October at the CCSC rubberized track oval. | Photo from John Velez
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The city’s local chief executive is hoping that the renovation for the track oval at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) will be finished by December.
Cebu City mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia confirmed on Monday that the CCSC track oval would be closed for the public starting November 13, Wednesday, because its renovation would then begin.
Garcia said that the contractor told him that they could finish the renovation within three weeks.
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“Even if it takes longer, for as long as macure og tarong, I’m very much open,” he added.
(Even if it takes longer, for as long as it will be cured properly, I’m very much open [for it].)
Garcia said that he previously set the deadline of the completion at the end of October, but when he talked with the contractor, they said that they might start in the first week of November.
Garcia said that because the City Council told them that they also wanted to check the track oval, starting the renovation in the first week was put on hold.
“Pero karon humana naman ang Council [og check] unya [Councilor] Jerry Guardo, on behalf of the Council, has already stated nga mas maayo tanan maoy ilisan pero karon it’s only 60 percent nga murag medyo guba nagyud,” Garcia said.
(But now that the Council was done [checking it] and [Councilor] Jerry Guardo, on behalf of the Council, has already stated that it would be better to change all of it, because now 60 percent of it seems like it is already damaged.)
Last week, Guardo, the Council’s chairperson of the Committee on Infrastructure, along with CCSC Manager Jovito Taburada and some personnel of the Department of Engineering and Public Works (DEPW), inspected the track oval to see how much damage needed to be repaired.
Furthermore, Garcia said that there was also a suggestion that the renovation would start after the Sinulog next year, but he said “it will be too long to wait for the Sinulog.”
“Unya og naa na say laing event after January? Ato nasang i-put hold kay gigamit na. So, for me, let’s start it on November 13, and hopefully, before Christmas, magamit na natog balik ang oval. Layo na gali tingali kaayo na,” he said.
(And then if there is another event after January? We will also then put it on hold because it is still being used. So, for me, let’s start it on November 13, and hopefully, before Christmas, we can again use the oval.)
He said that if the renovation would start on the 13th, it would take only three weeks, and by the first week of December, it might be done by then.
The CCSC was closed for the track oval’/ renovation in May 2023 and it faced public scrutiny last year due to significant delays in the project completion.
The track oval was renovated primarily for the city’s hosting of the Palarong Pambansa 2024 last July.
But after the national event, visible signs of damage in several areas of the the track oval were seen.
Shaun Doherty, owner of SBD builders, the contractor responsible for the oval, previously said in media interviews that the primary reason for the track oval’s damage were the activities not related to sports like cultural events that would require heavy and transportation equipment.
Doherty also belied allegations that the track oval was made of substandard materials.