Palace indecision keeps Palaro in limbo

Preparations for the staging of the Palarong Pambansa in April are on hold as Malacanang remains undecided on which venue — Tubod, Lanao del Norte or Naga City — should be awarded the right to host the event.

Tubod and Naga City, which bid to host the Palaro, have yet to start preparations, raising speculations on the capability of either city to stage the multi-sport event with only a little over two months left to work on the facilities, funding and manpower requirements.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain said he had submitted to Malacanang reports prepared by a separate team, which conducted ocular inspections on Tubod and Naga City, directly to Executive Secretary Alberto Romulo.

"We expect the President to decide anytime soon, at least before March ends," said Buhain in the Red Bull, Agfa Films-sponsored PSA Forum at the Holiday Inn.

The Palarong Pambansa, shelved two years back because of budgetary constraints, is part of the PSC’s National Grassroots Sports Development Program set to be formally launched today.

Buhain said the three-day launching at the Bayview Hotel will be participated in by over 400 delegates from various groups including representatives from the Department of Education and the Department of Interior and Local Government.

Under the setup, the PSC oversees all existing grassroots programs such as the Palarong Pambansa, Batang Pinoy-Philippine National Youth Games, Mindanao Friendship Games, CHED National Games, PRISAA, UNIGAMES and the AFP Special Olympics.

The PSC, according to Buhain, will also calendar the staging of the events to avoid overlapping of events.

The culmination of all these sports programs is the revival of the Philippine National Games which Buhain hopes the PSC would be able to hold by next year.

"This is the first time that the PSC has a hold in all three grassroots events like Batang Pinoy, Palaro and the CHED Games so the agency is really excited about it," said Buhain.

The second Mindanao Friendship Games has likewise been formally launched yesterday with Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental co-hosting the sports for peace program by the PSC.

"This is a good venue for us to prove to everyone that majority of Mindanao is relatively peaceful," said Antonio Calingin.

PSC commissioner William "Butch" Ramirez and Benjo Benaldo, a local councilor personally sent by Cagayan de Oro mayor Vicente Emano to represent him, accompanied Calingin in the weekly forum.