BAGUIO CITY – The Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) sports meet that was postponed last week will hopefully be staged on March 24.
CARAA was one of the events that was postponed after Mayor Benjamin Magalong ordered all activities that can draw big crowds either canceled or postponed as a preventive measure against the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) threat.
The CARAA board this week decided that it would be staged later in March.
Department of Education-Cordillera Administrative Region (DepEd-CAR) information officer Georaloy Palao-oy told the Philippine News Agency on Thursday via Facebook all regional meets this February are postponed as per the order of DepEd Sec. Leonor Briones that prompted regional director May Eclar to issue Regional Memo No. 40, series of 2020.
The DepEd’s CARAA 2020 Facebook page marks March 24 as the start of the multi-sport event that draws close to 7,000 delegates from the eight local government units with Baguio as host. The games will end on March 28.
The CARAA board on January 31 held an emergency meeting right after Magalong declared to have the opening parade and the drum and lyre competition of the 25th season of the Panagbenga canceled to avoid big crowds to avoid the spread of the 2019 nCoV.
Magalong as per the advice of the Department of Health – CAR also postponed all crowd-drawing events including the CARAA originally set on Feb. 16-21 and advised that the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) alumni homecoming be moved to another date.
The PMA Alumni Association moved the homecoming on February 22.
Magalong actually ordered that there will be no crowd-drawing events for the next three weeks, while also saying that it is a “wait and see” for the festivity’s biggest crowd drawers, the street dancing and float parades on Feb. 29 and March 1.
The DepEd also postponed all scheduled events this month among which is the National School Press Conference, but the Palarong Pambansa is still slated in May. (PNA)
