Panabo a PBA favorite host city

PANABO CITY, Philippines  – Since the P120– million Panabo Multi-Purpose Tourism Cultural and Sports Center was inaugurated in 2007, it has hosted seven regular season PBA games and Mayor Jose Silvosa Sr. said the other day the facility may be upgraded soon for air-conditioning to make it even more inviting to the pro league.

Last Saturday, a sell-out crowd witnessed the game between San Miguel Beer and Powerade in this Davao del Norte city where 20,000 hectares are planted to Cavendish bananas for export. PBA commissioner Chito Salud flew in from Manila to be at courtside. Gov. Douglas Cagas of neighboring Davao del Sur attended the game to observe proceedings as Digos City will host its first PBA encounter between Talk ‘N’ Text and Rain Or Shine on Dec. 4.

“Our doors are always open for the PBA,” said Silvosa, now serving his second straight term as city mayor. “We built our stadium bit by bit and it’s still in the process of completion. We’re now thinking of air-conditioning it. President Arroyo, Sen. (Juan) Ponce-Enrile, Sen. (Nikki) Coseteng, Sen. (Marcelo) Fernan, Sen. (Loren) Legarda, Rep. (Tony Boy) Floirendo, Gov. (Rodolfo) del Rosario, the Department of Tourism and the city government all contributed to making our dream of giving our city a stadium a reality.”

City engineer Glenn Olandria said it will likely take six months to install an air-conditioning system. The stadium itself was finished in 12 years as funding came in tranches.

“The air-conditioning project will depend on whether there is a budget,” said Olandria. “But we built the stadium with no air-conditioning in mind as we used aluminum, not GI sheets, as our roofing material so it’s not too hot inside. We provided for ventilation in the upper section. Our dressing rooms, however, are fully air-conditioned. We stage shows about twice a month. Sarah Geronimo, Vice Ganda and Piolo Pascual have come as guests. We’ve also held the amateur boxing championships. Eventually, we’ll recruit a stadium manager to take care of promotions, marketing and production.”

Last year, the PBA held the second leg of its three-part All-Star Extravaganza here. PBA media bureau chief Willie Marcial said it was the first time the league organized the annual event with legs in Luzon (Araneta Coliseum), Visayas (Victorias) and Mindanao (Panabo). Coach Yeng Guiao piloted the Powerade national team to a 103-99 win over the South All-Stars as Jared Dillinger won Best Player honors in the second leg.

“We’re ready to host the PBA at least once every conference,” said Olandria. “Every PBA team has played in Panabo except Rain Or Shine and we’re hoping the team will come when we next host in March.”

Last season, Panabo hosted the game between Alaska and San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Cup and the contest between Air 21 and B-Meg in the Fiesta Conference.

The stadium has 1,000 seats in the patron section and a open-sitting capacity of 2,500 each in the lower and upper sections. Additionally, there are 100 seats in the elevated stage behind a goal. For last Saturday’s game, Olandria said 5,700 tickets were printed and sold.

Silvosa said during the week of celebrations for “Araw Ng Panabo” in March, there will be another PBA game. He is also considering a proposal to stage a professional boxing event which the city has never hosted.

Silvosa, 68, said he encourages the youth to actively participate in sports and plans to hold more sporting events in the city.

“We want to inspire the youth,” said Silvosa, a lawyer who passed the bar in 1972. “That’s why it’s important that the barangay elections are non-partisan. We don’t want politicians to exploit the youth. Politicians found guilty of doing that are punishable by law. We’re encouraging our youth to be independent-minded.”

Olandria, who is on his second two-year term as national president of the City and Municipal Engineers Association of the Philippines with 1,600 members, has witnessed the growth of Panabo as city engineer for the last 19 years. He saw the rise of the stadium and the new city hall.

“Panabo is a very progressive city,” he said. “About 150,000 boxes of Cavendish bananas weighing 14 kilos each are shipped out of our international wharf every day. We are fortunate that our Congressman, Governor and Mayor are all sports-minded.” One of Olandria’s future projects is designating separate lanes for bicycles and tricycles on the national highway passing through the city which is 60 kilometers north of Davao City.