CRAMMED billeting quarters that give little or no comfort, the lack of running water, and the absence of accessible toilets are just some of the problems that have been endured by over 824 technical officials (TO) of the Palarong Pambansa for more than a week now in Cebu City.
The TOs continue to battle for their daily comfort at the Cebu City Central Elementary School (CCCES) and Cebu City Central National High School (CCCNHS) where they are being housed.
Based on data gathered by SunStar Cebu at the CCCES and CCCNHS on Saturday, July 13, 2024, around 12 TOs are billeted in each classroom. However, the number does not include other personnel from supply and equipment who are also staying in the schools.
Sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said because of the poor living arrangements, TOs officiating games and events are often without enough sleep, and have to wake up early to queue for baths.
“The rooms are very hot. And worse, the TOs have to go down the stairs from fifth floor to the ground floor just to go to the comfort room,” one source said.
“Those are the things that they just don’t understand. Why do you cram everybody in one school? Perhaps because they have not tried being a technical official and how hard it is,” he added in a mix of Cebuano and English.
“At the end of the day, comfort is important for a technical official. It’s important for the TOs to remain healthy in mind and body. If they are stressed because they haven’t had enough sleep they could make a mistake because they’re only human,” he said.
Out of 109 classrooms at the CCCES, 99 are being used to house the TOs and other support personnel.
At the CCCNHS, a total of 165 TOs are billeted in 22 classrooms.
Based on the Palarong Pambansa monitoring system, 1,453 delegates are housed inside the CCCES and CCCNHS on Saturday, July 13.
Other problems
For many TOs, transportation to their game’s host venue has also been a problem.
“Just getting transportation is already a chore. So, we decided, we like to be billeted near the host venue because this will reduce the burden of the organizing committee. They don’t have to think of our transportation, they don’t have to think of billeting us at City Central because there’s also no water there,” the source said.
Earlier, a group of TOs asked to move out of the CCCNHS and CCCES to be billeted in another school outside Cebu City where their sporting event was being held.
But the TOs were reportedly told by personnel of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Cebu City that this arrangement would affect the breakfast distribution.
“Then, we found out that instead of giving us our breakfast, they will just give us money and we were okay with that. But then DepEd personnel said we cannot bring the mattresses with us because they might get into trouble. And so we’re stuck here. We don’t understand why we’re being treated this way,” he lamented.
According to sources, the TOs and even the tournament director get only three to four hours of sleep every day due to their poor living conditions.
“That’s why when we get to the games, we are tired,” a source said. / CDF