BACOLOD CITY, (PNA)– The Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) alongside hosts, province of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City on Monday signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) for the hosting of the 2013 Batang Pinoy National Finals at 10 a.m. at the Bacolod City Government Center.
The five-day national sports competition will be staged in Bacolod City from Nov.19-23.
Representing POC president Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco Jr. during the signing ceremony was Romeo Magat, PSC Commissioner Salvador Andrada for PSC Chairman Ricardo ‘Richie’ Garcia and Gov. Alfredo Maranon Jr. and Mayor Monico Puentevella for the province and the city, respectively.
As of press time, around 4,000 athletes, coaches and officials were set to arrive in Bacolod City to take part in the five-day sports competition. Among these figures are the 1,000 athletes from Luzon, 800 from Visayas and 700 from Mindanao.
The athletes, aged 15-year-old and below, will be competing in 20 sports disciplines, namely: arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball, boxing, chess, cycling, dance sport, futsal, karatedo, lawn tennis, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, triathlon, wrestling, weightlifting and volleyball.
Event venues
As part of the province and the city’s sports tourism road map, all featured events will be spread all over the city.
Negros Occidental’s Panaad Park and Stadium in Brgy. Mansilingan, Bacolod City will play host to athletics (track oval), swimming (Olympic pool) and cycling while arnis, chess, karatedo, wrestling and weightlifting will be at the different malls in the city.
Badminton will be played at the Pohang Badminton Center as 3-on-3 basketball at the West Negros University gym; boxing at the BAYS Center; dance sport at the Bacolod Pavillion Hotel; futsal and volleyball at the University of St. La Salle; sepak takraw at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos; lawn tennis at Center Court; softball at Bacolod City National High School; taekwondo at Bacolod Tay Tung High School; and table tennis at Lopue’s San Sebastian.
Billeting
In order to provide the delegation with quality accommodation, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) together with Division Superintendent Gemma Ledesma of the Department of Education-Division of Bacolod recommended 11 schools as billeting.
These schools are the Andres Bonifacio Elementary School-I (Western Visayas), Andres Bonifacio Elementary School-II (Eastern Visayas), while C.L. Montelibano Elementary School and D.A. Montelibano Sr. for Central Visayas; A.L. Jayme Elementary School and Mansilingan Agro Industrial High School for Mindanao; and Rizal Elementary School, and Educational Training Center and School (ETCS) 1, 2 and 3 for Luzon contingents.
Bacolod City delegations, on the other hand, will be housed at the Bacolod City National High School.
Meanwhile, opening ceremony is still being finalized with tentative venues, either at the Provincial Capitol Lagoon, Bacolod City Public Plaza or Bacolod City Government Center.