PSC MOVES NATIONAL GAMES TO APRIL

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The Philippine National Games has been moved from Dec. 10-16 to April 15-20 to give Cebu City and co-host Cebu Province more time to prepare the billeting quarters of the athletes.

Philippine Sports Commission coordinator and local mover Nonie Lopez told SunStar Cebu that the postponement was announced by chairman William “Butch” Ramirez Friday evening.

“Let’s face it, we will be dealing with at least 6,000 athletes. Of course there are athletes who can pay for hotels but we are looking for a at least 3,600 of them who require free billeting. December is not an ideal time because there are still classes, and we can’t afford to cancel the classes and pay for an extended school days in April. PNG is very ideal in summer so that we can have athletes billeting quarters, which are usually classrooms,” Lopez said.

Aside from the billeting issue, national athletes are also not available by December.

“National athletes are not available in December. So it will defeat the purpose of the PNG, because we always measure the development of the national athletes through this tournament, where elite athletes compete for a slot in the national team,” added Lopez. /

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