LAOAG City Mayor Michael Marcos Keon promises to give Palarong Pambansa participants and delegates a memorable experience when Ilocos Norte hosts the annual games for elementary secondary students athletes next year.
"I'm very happy to announce to you that the province of Ilocos Norte was awarded the Palarong Pambansa for next year," said Keon.
"This was something that I worked out together with (Ilocos Norte) Gov. Matthew Marcos Manotoc, with the Department of Education. And this comes on the heels of Laoag City winning the overall Region 1 Championship, the R1AA."
Leaving no stone unturned, Keon said the main hub of the games next year is the brand new Ferdinand E. Marcos Memorial Stadium in Laoag City that also features a standard size track and field oval and swimming pool.
"Well, you know that the province built the Ferdinand Marcos Stadium. So we have a brand new stadium. And that was the stadium that I used to train our athletes before. But now it's a 25,000 seating capacity stadium. It's a big stadium. But it's only for football and track and field," said Keon.
"That is a beautiful stadium. So that was built for the competition, the regional championship and for the paralympic games. So Laoag being the capital city of Ilocos Norte, most venues will be in the city of Laoag."
Keon joined Manotoc in Cebu to attend the closing ceremony of the 2024 Palarong Pambansa as well as the turnover ceremony for the hosting of the 2025 games.
In a separate interview, the governor of Ilocos Norte expressed optimism and excitement about the hosting duty, viewing it as an opportunity to promote sports tourism and boost the local economy.Keon is no stranger to sports leadership and organization. He served as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) from 1981 to 1984 and the head of the Gintong Alay sports program of former president Ferdinand E. Marcos from 1979 to 1984.
It was only during his time when the POC and the government's sports agency was controlled by one man. It was also during his reign when Filipino sports icons Lydia de Vega, Isidro del Prado, Elma Muros, Hector Begeo and Renato Unso thrived in the international scene.
He said back then there was already politics in sports but explained that he controlled the politics in sports.
In the just concluded Palarong Pambansa, Region 1 finished at 15th place overall with a 5-gold, 14-silver and 10-bronze medal haul.
Next year, Keon said he is not expecting the Ilocos Region to dominate the games but promised to give the competition a run for their money, or in this case, for the gold.
"It (Region 1 being the Palarong Pambansa overall champ) won't happen for a long time," said Keon, nephew of the former president and cousin of the current chief executive.
"Western Visayas is very strong, NCR is very strong. What happens is that many of the top athletes in the whole Philippines end up studying in schools in NCR. That's what happens. That's why NCR is so strong. I think we could never be champions. I think that would take a very long time."
For the 17th straight year, National Capital Region (NCR) claimed the overall championship with a 98-66-74 tally while Calabarzon placed second with a 57-51-53 haul.
Western Visayas finished third with 56-41-41; Davao Region fourth with 32-25-35 while host Central Visayas rounded out the top five with 29-42-39.
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