Peace-themed Palarong Pambansa will be safe, assures Davao del Norte Gov

Manolo Pedralvez

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Peace-themed Palarong Pambansa will be safe, assures Davao del Norte Gov
Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario allayed fears over the security situation at this year’s Palaron Pambansa in May, following the most recent incident of armed conflict in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines – Davao del Norte Governor Rodolfo del Rosario allayed fears over the security situation at this year’s Palarong Pambansa in May, following the most recent incident of armed conflict in Mindanao.

 “Unlike the public perception, our region is generally peaceful because we are located in a metropolitan area,” said Del Rosario following the signing of the memorandum of agreement with the Department of Education on the hosting of the sportsfest held at the DepEd national headquarters in Pasig City.

“Besides, we will have 1,500 military and police personnel looking after the peace and safety of our Palaro athletes and officials,” he added.

Incidentally, this year’s slogan will be “Breaking borders, building peace.” 

Education Secretary Bro. Armin Luistro, who signed the MOA on behalf of the department, supported the governor’s statement about the stable peace and order in the province after inspecting the facilities numerous times.

 “Sometimes Manila media has to be more precise where the disturbances occur and not generalize,” said Luistro pointed out.

The two were referring to last weekend’s conflict in Maguindanao where 44 Special Action Force police died in a gun battle with Moro National Liberation Front and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

(RELATED: Aquino to declare National Day of Mourning for fallen cops)

Davao del Norte Vice Gov. Victorio Suaybaguio Jr., who witnessed the MOA signing, stressed that the clash was hundreds of kilometers away from the province “since we are in the north and it (the clash) is in the south.”

Luistro lauded the facilities of the Palaro host “which needed little or virtually no improvements. This (hosting) is a vote for Mindanao and the only thing we need to expect is for Tagum to deliver.”

The majority of the events will be held at the relatively new and sprawling Davao del Norte Sports and Tourism Complex, which was the site of the Batang Pinoy regional competitions in 2013 and Private Schools Athletic Association Collegiate National Games last year, in the provincial capital of Tagum City.

Assistant Secretary Tonisito Umali, the Palaro secretary general, bared that no new sports were being introduced  in the meet for high school and elementary athletes from all over the country, and wushu, billiards, wrestling and futsal (indoor football) were kept as demonstration sports.

The regular medal disciplines are archery, arnis, aquatics (swimming), athletics, badminton, baseball, boxing, chess, football, gymnastics, sepak takraw, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball, Umali said.

He added that the DepEd will continue to ban all outdoor sports from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. so that the student athletes would not suffer from heat stroke under the searing summer climate. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!