DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/5 April) – All 17 regions in the country have confirmed participation in the upcoming 2011 Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) National Collegiate Games which is set to kick off on April 9 to 14 in Zamboanga City amid reports that some regions are boycotting the games.
Joaquin “Boy” Sarabia, PRISAA Davao Region assistant executive director, said that only some schools in Western and Central Visayas are boycotting the games, but not their respective regions.
Sarabia, sports coordinator of the University of Mindanao, said that “as far he knows,” only the University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City and Silliman University in Dumaguete City are joining the boycott.
Other big schools in the area, he said, have not joined the two universities.
A manifesto, which reportedly originated in Region 6 (Western Visayas), has been circulating nationwide, calling for reforms in the PRISAA leadership and boycott of the Zamboanga games.
Sarabia said the people behind the manifesto wants reorganization in the PRISAA leadership under its chair, Manny Angeles of Angeles University, because they claimed that there are no financial transparency in the association.
“But that is not true,” said Sarabia, pointing out that the Davao Region has no problem with the current PRISAA leadership.
He said the Davao Region is sending its best athletes in the games that feature 15 sports disciplines with the possibility of adding one or two more sports for this year’s edition.
The regular events in the games include baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, sepak takraw, softball, volleyball, athletics, badminton, chess, dance sport, karatedo, tennis, swimming, table tennis, and taekwondo
The city government of Zamboanga hosted the games four times already, including its revival in 1991. (Rico Biliran / MindaNews)