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Thursday, January 30, 2003
Troubleshoot: Remembering Roco
By Guillermo C. Tejida III
Sportsman Roger Banzuela of NOVA has been the PAVA president since last week. For his love of volleyball, the former UE Warrior spiker has another uphill challenge ahead of him as he chairs a national sports agency ‘manipulated’ by Manila-based chiefs in the past.
When he relayed a text message Saturday evening that he is with the new PAVA board, sitting as chair thereof, two things came in mind: one, another honor for Bacolod and the province of Negros Occidental; second, pity for the man.
He has a lot of clean-up to do in the agency. That is apparent as PAVA is not NOVA, or Unigames, or NOPSSCEA. PAVA has a nationwide scope, and that explains it. It would mean more members and various agenda - a clash of cultures.
Let’s just pray that coach RAB is on his mark, ready to do a century dash. He may have the heart, no question, but some vested interests within the agency are just too much for one man.
***
Feb. 23-28. Regional Athletic and Cultural Meet in the “City of Pugs” - Bago City. By now, DepEd, the city government, and the Bago City Sports Council are preparing to accommodate about 3,000 athletes and officials hailing from Negros Occidental’s neighboring provinces. Consequently, the students and pupils of schools to be used as billeting quarters for the visitors would be affected. It’s not often that classes will be disrupted for the regional Palaro, yes. But in my mind, that does not change the fact that although the games will only run for a week, at least two weeks of regular classes will be wasted. To explain: a week before the actual skirmishes, the athletes have to occupy the school buildings. The students have no choice then but to spend happy days outside the four walls of the classroom.
Wait. Let’s make it three weeks as before the regional games, Bago City will celebrate the Babaylanes Festival where most participants would also be students. Reports also say that the city is coming up with yet a separate festival to involve the employees, but that’s another story.
Anyway, with the number of class days that would be affected due to the week-long Palaro, one would always be reminded of then Education Sec. Raul Roco who nearly caused last year’s Palarong Pambansa to be just a thing of the past. Roco is pro-sports, but he’d rather prefer education over Palaro. Sports is good but some ‘crucial’ things have to be considered. It makes me think. I agree with Roco in this aspect, but it doesn’t make me less pro-sports./GCT |
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