IN A major milestone for local sports development and the government’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program, allied government agencies formally launched the 2023 Philippine ROTC Games at the Lapu-Lapu Grandstand inside Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.
Department of Defense Undersecretary and officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr. led the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement for the ambitious project also involving the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Commission on Higher Education (Ched), the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC).
Besides Faustino, who was appointed as the chairman of the newly formed Philippine ROTC Games Executive Organizing Committee, the other signatories were AFP chief Lt. Gen. Bartolome Vicente Bacarro, Ched Chairman Dr. Prospero de Vera III and PSC Chairman Jose Emmanuel “Noli” Eala and a representative of Wharton Chan, the POC chief legal counsel, representing the private sector.
All of them will be members of the organizing committee in the sportsfest meant to foster national pride, self-discipline, teamwork and excellence while serving as a new spawning ground for outstanding athletes for international play, according to Bacarro.
Witnessing the MOA signing, and formal launch of the Philippine ROTC Games was Sen. Francis Tolentino, a brigadier general in the Army reserve, who was the prime mover in initiating the undertaking aimed at boosting greater engagement among college students in both the ROTC and sports.
Brig. Gen. Doroteo Jose Jalandoni, who was among those who conceptualized the 2023 Philippine ROTC Games, revealed that the competitions among ROTC cadets will involve three phases: sports clinics where cadets will learn the sports basics, regional meets and the National Games.
Jalandoni said the sports in the initial sportsfest are athletics, obstacle sports, swimming, boxing, arnis, weightlifting, kickboxing, e-sports, basketball, volleyball, target shooting and the demonstration of gymnastics.