BAGUIO CITY – The local government announced that this year’s Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) regional sports competition will push through earlier scheduled on March 23-27, 2020.
Mayor Benjamin B. Magalong said that the local government does not intend to further reset the conduct of the regional sports competition considering its proximity with the upcoming Palarong Pambansa.
He added that it is important for the region to be able to select the athletes that will represent the Cordillera in the upcoming Palarong Pambansa to allow them to pursue their training and try to excel in their chosen sports disciplines and bring honor and pride to the region.
The decision to fix the dates of the regional sports competition came after Education Secretary Leonor Briones lifted the suspension she earlier issued for the conduct of public gatherings inside and outside schools in the different parts of the country.
Earlier, the CARAA board scheduled this year’s regional sports competition last February 24-28, 2020 to serve as a venue from where the education department will select the athletes who will be representing the region in the upcoming regional, national and international sports competitions that are scheduled this year.
However, the recent Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) scare prompted the local government to postpone the conduct of the region sports competition and other major events of the 25th edition of the Panagbenga or the Baguio Flower Festival.
The City Mayor claimed that the Local Government and the Health Department is closely monitoring the development of the COVID-19 in both the global and local scenes and that the situation seems to slowly normalize in the coming months that is why the final dates of the CARAA has been agreed upon by the CARAA board and concerned stakeholders.
The local government earmarked some P8.3 million from the city’s annual budget this year o bankroll the hosting of the regional sports competition after Baguio City offered to host the 2020 CARAA when no province offered a bid to be this year’s host for the sports competition.
From 2015 to 2017, Baguio City hosted the annual conduct of the regional sports competition before Abra took over in 2018 and Apayao in 2019.
The local government made a pronouncement that it will no longer host the conduct of the CARAA in 2021 and 2022 considering that it intends to utilize its meagre resources for the implementation of its priority development projects and enhance the delivery of basic services to the people in the city’s 128 barangays.
Some 8 public schools in the different parts of the city had been identified by the Department of Education – Division of City Schools to serve as the billowing schools of the athletes and sports officials from the participating contingents that will be arriving in the city within the next several weeks in time for the week-long regional sports competition.
The CARAA will be held after the conduct of the Panagbenga grand opening parade that was also reset on March 21, 2020 and before the twin Panagbenga highlights, the grand streetdancing parade on March 28, 2020 and the grand float parade on March 29, 2020.
By DEXTER A. SEE
