Traditional Cebu City Olympics parade called off

CEBU, Philippines —  The traditional long parade for the revival of the 2023 Cebu City Olympics (CCO) at the Cebu City Sports Center has been canceled to avoid aggravating the traffic flow along Osmeña Boulevard.

It has been three years since the last staging of the CCO, and every student-athlete is looking forward to its revival, including participating in the traditional parade of athletes on the street.

However, with the ongoing BRT construction along Osmena Boulevard, the DepEd-Cebu City has decided to cancel the long parade and the delegates will just have to proceed to their designated area prior to their entry to the CCSC.

“We canceled the parade, supposedly sa DOH ta mag start…kay basin unya ug maka cause tag too much traffic unya ongoing baya ang BRT construction,” DepEd-Cebu City’s Francis Ramirez said.

Along with this, participants are requested to stay at their designated waiting area before the opening ceremonies, so as not to cause traffic if they swell and would overflow along the pavements.

For unit 1 to unit 4, they will be at the City Central side while unit 6 down to the CESAFI schools will take the Abellana National School campus as a waiting area before proceeding to the CCSC for the opening ceremonies.

Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama, who has been out of Cebu for several days due to other official functions in Manila, is expected to lead today’s event, along with the city and DepEd officials.

The CCO is the city’s selection process for the regional meet and, hopefully, in the Palarong Pambansa.

City Councilor Donaldo Hontiveros hopes that organizers will gain more learnings from the revival of the CCO, as the city bids for the hosting of next year’s Palarong Pambansa. — GAN (FREEMAN)