WITH BARELY two days to go and an impending weather disturbance, the Batang Pinoy national finals will push through as scheduled.
In an advisory, the Philippine Sports Commission and the City Government of Baguio jointly decided to move the opening of the games to September 17, 2018 instead of September 16 due to the expected onslaught of Typhoon Omopong (international name Mangkhut).
The opening program originally scheduled for September 15 will be done away with and instead a grand closing program will be prepared.
PSC said queries may be lodged with Batang Pinoy Secretariat head Alona Quinto (09195457252) and assistant head Mr. Paul Ycasas (09184635150).
Baguio City sports coordinator Gaudencio Gonzales, meanwhile, said the city is closely monitoring the possible entry of Typhoon Ompong.
“We’ll have to wait and see kung ano ang mangyayari within the next few days,” Gaudencio said in a radio interview.
Earlier, Mayor Mauricio Domogan issued an administrative order suspending classes in the pre-school to senior high school levels, both private and public, from September 17 to 21 to pave the way for the weeklong sports competition.
“We deemed it necessary to suspend the classes in the pre-school to senior high school levels to allow our youth to witness the conduct of the week-long sports competition that will be hosted by our city for the first time. We also want our youth to cheer for our participating athletes considering that Baguio City is the defending champion of the Batang Pinoy games,” Domogan stressed.
Twenty-two sports events will be played in the different playing venues in Baguio while six sports disciplines will be played in the different venues in La Trinidad, Benguet.
Several athletes and sports officials from the different parts of the country started to flock Baguio and Benguet early this week to acclimatize for the weeklong sports event for boys and girls 15 years old and below. (Roderick Osis)