WITH barely three days before the scheduled meeting of the management of the University Games (UniGames), the hosting of the city remains in limbo with no action from Baguio officials.

"It's up to the BBEAL (Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League) to coordinate with the officials of the UniGames for the hosting," Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. said earlier.

But Saint Louis University (SLU) athletic director Lucy Calagui said it was the office of the mayor, which halted the meeting with SLU as the city braced for the opening of the Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (Caraa).

"We are awaiting for the meeting with the mayor," Calagui said.

SLU is the only member in the UniGames from the nine participating schools in the Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic League.

Calgui said that whether the city or SLU would push for the holding of the UniGames here, the decision would definitely be up to the board of directors of UniGames who are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

"UniGames has long wanted for Baguio to play host but the problem is that we don't have ample venue for the more than 10,000 athletes who will participate," Calgui said.

UniGames president Roger Banzuela said the board has been waiting for the city's letter but until now, the city has not sent any.

The UniGames is the only national collegiate sports competition, which started 1996 at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City, gathering together the finest varsity athletes from private and government universities from all over the country in the spirit of fair play, friendship, and top-caliber competition.

The 12 sports disciplines to be competed in the event are athletics, badminton, basketball, chess, football, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, and beach volleyball.

An average of 52 schools are participating every year in the collegiate sports event coming from the various part of the country, which includes top universities in the UAAP and NCAA.

Bautista said the city would only help in terms of providing the venue and help in whatever logistics it could offer.

He said it will not be the city's fault if it could not get the hosting of the game but that he asked the UniGames board to notify the city immediately of their decision. (Roderick Osis)