Safety, security assured for Palaro delegates
THE DEPARTMENt of Education (DepEd) and host Antique have assured the safety and security of the delegates in the 60th edition of the schoolbased Palarong Pambansa.
Education Assistant Secretary Antonio Umali said their department and the host province of Antique, in coordination with the police, armed forces and other concerned agencies, had beefed personnel to ensure the safety and security of an estimated 12,000 delegates from the 18 regions across the country in the annual sports conclave.
Umali was among the guest in the regular weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Sports Forum held on Tuesday at the Golden Phoenix Hotel in Pasay City.
Umali emphasized that security personnel would be stationed in all ports of entry (air, land and sea)and strategic areas in the province. Uniform men and women will be on board for each delegation transport vehicle, and a police escorts will be provided.
“Safety and security is not only the top concern of the authorities, host province Antique but more particularly our secretary (education) Leonor Briones,” said Umali, who is also the Palaro secretarygeneral.
Umali said a team of medical paramedics would be stationed in strategic areas.
To avoid injuries due to the prevailing summer heat, the education department with proper consultation with the department of health, science and technology , is planning to have a “window time” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that temporary stops field events.
“We are seriously studying the possibility for temporary stopping all field events during those period,” said Umali.
On the issue of playing venues, Umali said all were compliant to international standards. In fact, he said the DepEd central office had allotted an additional Php30 million for the rehabilitation of some venues, aside from the Php40 million appropriated by host Antique, and the Php10 million financial aid from Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
Annually, Congress appropriates Php350 million for DepEd in holding school-based sports competitions that include division, regional meets and Palaro.
Meanwhile, Cesar Abalon, head of the School Sports Division of DEpEd, said four sports namely wushu, billiard, wrestling and futsal--were added in the regular sports.
They are not exactly “new sports” but in the previous editions of the Palaro, were only held as demo sports which means medals won in these events are not counted in the overall medal tally.
The regular sporting events to be contested in the secondary division are archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw s, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball.
The same events will be contested in the elementary division except for archery and boxing.
Among the demo sports to be played are 3x3 basketball, aero gymnastics, penkat silat and dance sports. PNA