THE PALARONG Pambansa will be ushered Tuesday at the newly refurbished Cebu City Sports Center right at the heart of the Queen City of the South by either or both of the two highest officials of the land — President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.
The annual multi-sports meet for grade school athletes will have a traditional parade of colors in a grand ceremony that would be highlighted by the lighting of the cauldron and the playing of the meet’s 2024 theme song titled “Palarong Pambansa Cebu City.”
In the tentative opening program obtained by The Freeman and The STAR at press time, Ms. Duterte-Carpio, who is also outgoing Department of Education secretary, will introduce the Chief Executive as keynote speaker.
While there is no confirmation yet if one or two or both will attend, it would be nice for thousands of athletes battling for sports glory to have both leaders grace the meet being used to produce future sports champions especially that the Paris Olympics is just around the corner.
Also attending the inaugurals are Cebu City acting Mayor Alvin Garcia and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.
The event will then have the “Palaro ng Lahi” at Plaza Independencia today before real action unfurls tomorrow at various venues all over the city and nearby towns.
Apart from the traditional sports calendar that included centerpiece track and field and medal-rich swimming, the event will introduce dancesports as a regular discipline.
Also, instead of the usual 17 delegations, this edition will have 19 after DepEd has allowed the National Academy of Sports and a team from schools in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong to field their own delegation.
The champion delegation of every sport will also be declared aside from the general winners from elementary and high school divisions. — Joey Villar
