Rizal Memorial off-limits Jan. 10-20 for Papal visit

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Sports Commission will close the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex from Jan. 10 to 20 to allow the National Police to use the facilities as detachment posts in line with the visit of Pope Francis.

According to PSC executive director Guillermo Iroy Jr., close to 15,000 police personnel will use the Rizal Memorial Coliseum, Ninoy Aquino Stadium and Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium as base in their jobs of providing security to the Pontiff.

“The Rizal will be closed to the public during those nine days,” Iroy said.

But he stressed that athletes who are living and training inside the complex won’t be affected by the closure.

“Those who are billeted at Rizal like (athletes from) weightlifting and badminton can train without disruption. They just have to make sure they have their IDs with them,” Iroy said.

Augmentation forces from Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, Calabarzon and Region III will be stationed at the Rizal complex to help secure the Pope, who will be residing at the Papal Nunciature on Taft Avenue during his stay.

“This is the PSC’s contribution to the  Papal visit,” said Iroy. “We will assist the PNP kung ano pa kailangan nila (in whatever capacity we can).”

The closure of Rizal Memorial, meanwhile, forced the UAAP to push back the opening of its Season 77 baseball and softball competitions, which were originally set to start this weekend.

In a memo issued by host University of Santo Tomas, softball will begin on Jan. 24 with a triple bill pitting Ateneo versus National U, La Salle versus UST and UP vs UE. Baseball will start Jan. 25 with Ateneo beginning its title defense against Adamson, DLSU taking on UP and UST battling NU.