THE upcoming Cebu Provincial Athletic Meet 2024, slated for March 3-8 in the City of Naga, is expected to draw around 13,000 participants, including student-athletes, teachers and delegates, according to an official of the Department of Education (DepEd) 7.
Dr. Senen Priscilo Paulin, schools superintendent of the Division of Cebu Province, in an interview with “Beyond the Headlines,” SunStar Cebu’s online news and commentary program, said the annual sports competition will be hosted by the City of Naga, together with the municipalities of Minglanilla and San Fernando.
Paulin said the preparation is ongoing with the support of the Cebu Provincial Government and host city and municipalities.
He expressed his gratitude to the City of Naga Government through Mayor Valdemar Chiong for volunteering to host the provincial meet, despite having their annual sports competition in the form of the City Athletic Meet and the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet.
Paulin clarified the City of Naga will not send delegates to the upcoming sports competition as they are not part of the Cebu Province division.
The sporting events will take place primarily in Naga City’s sports facilities, while Minglanilla and San Fernando will host several sports events and provide billeting quarters for student-athletes and delegates.
Chiong, in a text message, told SunStar Cebu that City of Naga is ready to host the provincial meet due to its prior experience hosting CVIRAA in February 2016.
The city features state-of-the-art facilities that will cater to sporting events that the upcoming provincial sports meet requires.
The 13,000 delegates will be coming from the 44 municipalities in Cebu Province, excluding the component and highly urbanized cities, Paulin said.
These delegates, composed of elementary and high school student-athletes, will compete in a total of 24 sports categories and activities.
The winning athletes will represent Cebu Province in the CVIRAA.
Chiong said there was a discussion to conduct the regional meet by May 2024; however, there is no definite date yet as deliberation is ongoing.
The Cebu City Government will host the CVIRAA, as this will also serve as the evaluation period for the City Government to test out its sports facilities, particularly at the Cebu City Sports Center, where renovation is ongoing.
The renovation is for the upcoming Palarong Pambansa 2024 sporting event, which is scheduled to take place in Cebu City in July. (EHP)