CITY OF SAN FERNANDO The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Tuesday that the 2023 Palarong Pambansa is set to resume from July 29 to August 5 in Marikina City.

This after the biggest sports gathering of student athletes was forced to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the DepEd said the division meets already started last Monday and will culminate on Friday while the division meets on Monday, while regional meets will run from April 24 to 28.

Under DepEd Memorandum 5, series of 2023, student-athletes from the 17 regional athletic associations will vie for the overall and individual titles and Filipino student-athletes abroad may compete in individual sports under the banner of Philippine Schools Overseas.

For this year's meet, the DepEd said delegations will be geographically clustered into four new tier levels consisting of Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, and Cordillera Administrative Region in the first cluster; Calabarzon, Mimaropa, National Capital Region, and Bicol Region in the second cluster; Western, Central and Eastern Visayas and Zamboanga Peninsula Region in the third cluster; and Northern Mindanao, Davao, Soccksargen, Caraga, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the fourth cluster.

The DepEd added that an additional tier called the pre-national qualifying meet will be introduced to lessen the number of delegations, shorten the duration of the event, and lower the expenses to be incurred without sacrificing the level of play.

This new tier, according to the DepEd, will only allow the top two regional advancers besting the clustered levels to join the national competition and only baseball, basketball, football, futsal, sepak takraw, football, and volleyball will be included for team sports.

The modified competition format aims to prevent the disruption of classes and to observe minimum public health and safety protocols as stated in DepEd Order No. 34, s. 2022, and other relevant policies and guidelines issued, the DepEd said.