Focus on the Cebu City Sports Center

Scheduled for inauguration on Sunday, April 22, is the newly completed renovation of CCSC’s track oval costing P26 million sourced from Cebu City coffers. Like the original oval, the overlay is made of rubberized material, the kind used in modern sports centers in other countries. Although the cost seems prohibitive, the project is justified by the acute need of this kind of facility in this city.

In the last 18 years since 1994, when DECS and the Cebu City government under Mayor Tomas Osmeña hosted the Palarong Pambansa, the center has been the gathering place of major sports competitions such as the Milo Olympics, the Cebu Division Olympics, the DepEd regional meets, the intramural games of some colleges and universities and other sports events.

And of course the center has always been the site of that mother of all Visayan festivals, the Sinulog, held every January when Cebu celebrates its Pista Senyor.

But it is during ordinary days when the center becomes the focus of sports and various health related activities such us jogging, brisk walking, swimming, aerobics, belly dancing, ballroom dancing, martial arts training and gymnastics. Team sports competitions and training involving soccer, volleyball, table tennis, basketball and others are also held in the center. Everyday from 1000 to 1500 athletes and health enthusiasts use its facilities, thus keeping CCSC manager Ricky Balesteros and his staff of 54 personnel on their toes always.

A management committee composed of the city schools superintendent, the DepEd regional director, the city council chairman of the education committee, a representative from a higher education institution and a private sector representative – this body provides policy direction to the center.

Large patronage plus efficient management has made CCSC self sufficient in funding its day-to-day operations. Its monthly expenditure of about P300,000 is more than enough to cover its monthly revenue from entrance and other fees on the use of various sports facilities and equipment.In contrast, other DepEd sports complexes in other cities and municipalities (there are approximately 13 of these) have been dependent on the financial supports from the LGUs which operate them. And since some local governments have priorities other than sports. A good number of these complexes have deteriorated and are no longer usable.

The CCSC was built in 1994 after Cebu City won the right to host the Palarong Pambansa in that year. For two decades since 1975 that yearly sports event could not be held in Cebu City for want of a sports complex. Sometime in 1992, DECS sports director Aparicio Mequi convinced Cebu City officials, particularly then councilor Joy Augustus Young, and the incumbent DECS director (this writer), that the Abellana High School grounds, if renovated, was large enough to be the site of a new Palaro complex. With the city council backstopping the project, the regional office of DECS-7 started campaigning among education directors to vote for Cebu City as the Palaro venue in 1994. That vote was won in Isabela where the 1993 meet was held, despite the strong lobby waged by Bacolod City officials, who also wanted to host the games.

With that development, Cebu City and DECS-7 started mobilizing for that big event. Construction on the CCSC complex was started even as the billeting schools were spruced up and student athletes trained. After months of preparation, Palaro 1994 with more than 8000 athletes and officials in attendance, came to Cebu with a big bang in the second week of May 1994. No less than President Fidel Ramos was the keynote speaker in the opening ceremonies.

It was a milestone event in the field of school sports in Cebu. It was a very memorable Palaro for the visiting athletes and officials because of the many benefits and assistance the host city provided them. More important, it was the very event that brought about the building of the sports complex now known as Cebu City Sports Center which has been serving thousands of young Cebuanos in their sporting needs.