Palarong Pambansa attracts 10,000 participants

Some 10,000 athletes, coaches, and sports officials will converge in Pangasinan in the second week of May for this year’s Palarong Pambansa, the country's biggest sports spectacle involving elementary and high school students.
Slated May 6 to 12, most of the events will be played at the Narciso Ramos Sports Center in Lingayen while the rest will be in the cities of San Carlos and Dagupan and the towns of Bugallon and Binmaley, according to the Department of Education (DepEd).
Student-athletes who stand out from the Palaro serve as feeder to the national sports associations (NSAs) for further training for international competitions.
This is also where coaches from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) eye their prized athletes.
"In a way, the results of the Palaro provide a database for a more sound and relevant school development program," Education Secretary Armin Luistro, who used to head the De La Salle University, said.
The sporting events are athletics, arnis, badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, chess, football, gymnastics (women’s artistic gymnastics, men’s artistic gymnastic and rhythmic gymnastics), sipa takraw, sepak takraw, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, and volleyball.
For the differently-abled, there is goalball, aquatics, bocce, long jump, shot put and 100, 200 and 400 meter dash.
On another aspect, Luistro said the DepEd will ensure that athlete screening and games officiating will be clean and fair to all in keeping with the true spirit of the sporting event.
"The Palaro is a venue for values formation among our youth, this is where positive Filipino values should apply," he said.
DepEd has allocated some P136.5 million for this year's Palaro.