Dumaguete to host ’13 Palarong Pambansa

DUMAGUETE, Philippines – The Department of Education (DepEd)  has awarded the provincial government of Negros Oriental the right to host the 2013 Palarong Pambansa slated in April.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo had officially accepted the hosting of the week-long national school games.

Luistro said the decision to stage the Palaro  in Dumaguete was voted upon by 11 of 19 representatives and came after a “tedious selection and deliberation process,  taking into consideration the preparations made last Oct. 19 and the report provided by the technical committee composed of the officials of the DepEd and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).”

Luistro said Gov. Degamo  recently submitted to the DepEd a formal letter of commitment to host the Palaro indicating the provincial government’s offer of counterpart funding and the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to firm up the roles and obligations of DepEd and the provincial government.

The DepEd chief said the other bidder in the 2013 Palaro was Negros Occidental (Bacolod) headed by Gov. Alfredo Maranon.

Luistro said the Palaro, hosted last year by Pangasinan and previously  by Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte, is expected to draw over  10,000 athletes, coaches, chaperons and meet officials from DepEd’s  17 regions.

This year’s Palaro will include traditional Olympic sports and indigenous games like septak takraw.