BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan directed concerned government agencies and various offices of the local government to plan out the conduct of the opening ceremonies of the Batang Pinoy national finals which will be hosted by the country’s undisputed Summer Capital on September 15-21, 2018 so thousands of visiting athletes, coaches, chaperons and sports officials will have a memorable stint in the city.
Domogan presided over the recent organizational meeting of the various working committees created to oversee the local government’s hosting of one of the major sports events in the country to ensure that the conduct of the Batang Pinoy national finals in the city will be successful with the unwavering and uncompromising support of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
“We want to make sure that the activities for the penning rites of the Batang Pinoy national finals will be memorable to the thousands of participating athletes, their chaperons and sports officials. Let us do the best we could to make the event a memorable and successful one so that our city will be considered in future hosting of bigger sports events that will be done in our country,” Domogan stressed.
He instructed local education officials to tap the active participation of the special performing arts contingents of the different private and public schools in the city to be able to come out with unique activities for the opening rites considering that President Rodrigo R. Duterte will be the guest of honor and speaker on the opening day of the sports competition.
More than 7,000 athletes, coaches, chaperons and sports officials from the different parts of the country are expected to flock to the city starting early September to participate in the 27 sports events that will be part of the Batang Pinoy national finals featuring young and talented athletes aged 15 years and below.
Of the 27 sports events that will be played during the week-long competition, 21 events will played in the different playing venues around the city while the 6 sports events will be played in the sports venues in the capital town of La Trinidad, Benguet.
Domogan also instructed sports and education officials to evaluate the billeting schools for the different contingents from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao so that appropriate adjustments could be done by the organizers once the assigned schools will not be sufficient to accommodate the number of individuals in each of the delegations.
Luzon will be fielding some 1,600 athletes and sports officials, Mindanao will have some 1,500 athletes and officials, Visayas settled for some 1,400 athletes and officials while there will be 1,500 athletes and officials who will be billeted in the different schools in La Trinidad for the 6 sports events and some 900 athletes are set to directly proceed to the finals because of limited delegations from the participating regions.
The opening ceremonies of the Batang Pinoy national finals will be conducted at the Baguio Athletic Bowl at around 3 pm of September 15, 2018 after a colorful parade from the central business district area to the city’s sports facility.
By Dexter A. See
