THESE days, any pictures of the mass gatherings are accompanied by a scathing remark lambasting those in the photo for ignoring social distancing and risking the safety of the community.
Makes you wonder if the day will ever return when mass gathering becomes normal again.
When will that day come? Is it after the mass production of a vaccine for Covid-19?
The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) has canceled all of its events for this year and although the PSC is the government agency for sports, it doesn’t control all of Philippine sports events, so there will be those outside its umbrella—professional basketball, volleyball and collegiate sports—which may think of holding their own events.
But while Manila collegiate leagues are looking at a January opening, the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) jumped the gun on everyone else by canceling the 2020-2021 season, showing that in the Covid-19 era, sports must take a back seat.
Which brings us to something that may disappoint a lot—should the Department of Education (DepEd) follow the PSC’s move and cancel all sports events, not just for the rest of the year, but for the incoming school year?
The last quarter of the calendar year is when usually the different school districts hold their meets before going to the division meet. The first quarter of the calendar year is for regional meets, while summer is for the Palarong Pambansa. We would have been in the middle of this year’s Palaro in Marikina if not for Covid-19, and the end of the Palaro is also when next year’s host is announced, giving the succeeding host a year to prepare.
No Palaro, no new host and frankly, I think most heads of local government units are busy scratching their heads where to get funds for the Covid-19 fight. The last thing in their mind is preparing for hosting a multi-event meet that gathers at least 10,000 athletes, officials and parents.
So, if we are to move the DepEd sports calendar to January of next year, would that give schools, or even DepEd itself, enough time to have the Palaro in summer or even a couple of months later should the opening of classes be delayed?
That’s a question that DepEd will eventually have to answer in the next few months.
Or should the question be, should we have a sports meet at all?
There will be pros and cons for every answer and DepEd will be caught between a rock and a hard place, something Cesafi altogether avoided by canceling its season and making sure the student-athletes still enjoy scholarships.