BAGUIO CITY – Local officials and supporters of sports in Baguio and Benguet renewed their commitment to support the hosting of the city and provincial governments of the upcoming conduct of the prestigious Batang Pinoy national finals scheduled on September 15-21, 2018.
The commitment was made by the concerned stakeholders during the formal signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the sports body in charge of spearheading the conduct of similar national sports competitions in the different parts of the country.
Leading the local officials who signed the agreement were Benguet Gov. Crescencio C. Pacalso, City Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan, La Trinidad Mayor Romeo Salda and representatives of concerned regional line agencies and various offices of both Baguio and Benguet.
The private sector signatories to the agreement were St. Louis University (SLU) president Fr. Gabriel Sales, University of the Cordillera (UC) president Ray Dean Salvosa, University of Baguio (UB) president Engr. Javier Herminio D. Bautista, Easter College president Dr. Braille Van Reyes, officials of private and public educations in the city and the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).
Local education officials led by City Schools Division Superintendent Dr. Federico Martin and their counterparts in Benguet also joined the over 100 signatories to the agreement to ensure the successful staging of the week-long sports competition in Baguio and Benguet.
Mayor Domogan urged the concerned stakeholders to perform their assigned duties and responsibilities with utmost dedication and commitment to show to the participants that Baguio and Benguet deserve to host the conduct of bigger sports events in the future to continue promoting the city as a suitable sports haven north of Manila.
For his part, Gov. Pacalso claimed that the provincial government is proud to be a co-host of one of the biggest sports competition in the country and that the conduct of the 6 out of the 28 sports events in the different playing venues in La Trinidad will also contribute in advancing the province’s tourism industry considering that athletes and sports officials will be able to see for themselves that Benguet is the source of quality vegetables, cutflowers and strawberries.
Athletes from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will start arriving in the city a few days before the scheduled competition dates for them to be able to acclimatize themselves to the prevailing weather condition of the city considering that it is getting colder everyday based on the daily morning temperature.
PSC selected Baguio and Benguet as this year’s host of the Batang Pinoy national finals to give the city and the province a chance to host the third largest sports competition in the country after it was not able to succeed in its bid to host the 2018 Palarong Pambansa that was awarded to Vigan City, Ilocos Sur.
Organizers are still deciding on whether or not the opening program will be transferred in the morning of September 15, 2018 instead of the afternoon to prevent the ceremonies from being rained out.
By Dexter A. See