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By EDD K. USMAN | Twitter: @edd1819 | Instagram: @bluestar0910 | Facebook: SDN — Scitech and Digital News
MANILA — Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro, the mayor of Marikina City, showed love for the 400-strong delegation of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Dr. Yusoph “Thong” Amino, bureau director for Physical Education and Sports Development of the Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education (MBHTE-PESD), said the 400 delegation members included regional staff, 282 athletes, coaches, and officials from the Bangsamoro Sports Commission (BSC).
An MBHTE report said Teodoro visited the Bangsamoro delegation in their headquarters at Industrial Valley Elementary School (IVES) and Industrial Valley Complex National High School (IVCNHS) in the city.
Marikina City is host of the Palarong Pambansa (National Games) 2023 from July 29 to August 05.
Teodoro and his party visited the Bangsamoro delegation on Thursday evening, July 27. He brought good tidings to the BARMM contingent.
“The LGU Marikina provided a coaster which will be used by the (BARMM) athletes and their coaches for seamless and convenient transportation to the different playing venues. Meals were also brought by Mayor Teodoro’s team,” the MBHTE headed by Minister Mohagher M. Iqbal reported.
For this act, the MBHTE expressed “its gratitude to the host city of this year’s Palaro for its commitment and support in promoting unity among different regions through this multi-sports competition.”
The Bangsamoro government will have a windfall of financial rewards for its winning athletes who will strike a gold medal — Php50 cash incentive for individual sport, Php10,000 for winning coach; and Php70,000 for team sport. BARMM entered just two team sports events — Volleyball Elementary Boys and Football Elementary Boys.
Amino said the BARMM delegation to the Palaro is headed by Bangsamoro Chief Minister Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim.
Teodoro said Marikina is ready for the around 9,172 student athletes, coaches, and officials from the country’s 17 regions.
The athletes will compete in 34 sports disciplines while demonstration some sports will also be staged.
“It’s all systems go for the Palarong Pambansa 2023,” Teodoro declared of the readiness of Marikina, the “Shoe Capital of the Philippines”.
The Department of Education (DepEd) said it organized the Palaro and was first held in 1948. It’s “an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from 17 regions of the Philippines”.
Palaro’s objectives, per DepEd, cover the:
- Promotion of Physical Education and sports as an integral part of the Basic Education curriculum for holistic development of the youth;
- Inculcating of the spirit of discipline, teamwork, excellence, fair play, solidarity, sportsmanship, and other values inherent in sports;
- Promotion and achieving peace by through of sports;
- Widening the base for talent identification, selection, recruitment, training and exposure of elementary pupils and secondary students to serve as a feeder to the National Sports Association (NSA) for international competitions; and
- Providing a database for a valid and universal basis to further improve the school sports development programs.
The Palaro was absent for three years in 2020, 2021, and 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic that swept the world since 2019 when it broke out in China, killing millions of people globally. (✓)