Six national events of the Department of Education are happening in Cebu City – 2024 Palarong Pambansa, National Schools Press Conference (NSPC), National Festival of Talents (NFOT), National Learning Convergence, National Kickoff of Brigada Eskwela, and Solidarity Meeting of Learners Rights and Protection.
More than 1,000 members of the Davao delegation are in the Province of Cebu, and they aim to be among the top-performing regions.
And it just happened.
Davao Region was recently declared the champion for the 2024 NSPC dethroning Region 4-A or Calabarzon of their undefeated nine-year straight wins. This time, it’s the Davao Region shining.
If you want to know how they won the championship for the first time, we give credit to the leadership that inspired the coaches, student writers, and student broadcasters.
Regional Director (RD) Allan G. Farnazo was always around to motivate the delegates. He is good at this, one of the best traits of a leader.
Assistant RD Rebonfamil “Bong” R. Baguio was hands-on during the training up to the NSPC time. He was with them all the time to give guidance and support. Journalism is his forte too.
So, to make it short, Davao Region delegates were prepared. It wasn’t merely a bolt from the blue.
Meanwhile, the Palarong Pambansa is the most popular event, with more than half of the total delegates. Everyone is glued to their favorite sports. Volleyball, basketball, boxing, and athletics are among the country's most popular sports.
Since the era of Alyssa Valdez for volleyball, Manny Pacquiao for boxing, and the many famous names in basketball and athletics, these coveted sports events are crowded with cheers from different regions. This is a normal state in the national sporting events.
Athletes were trained in true sportsmanship before they were sent to become the delegations of their regions. In DepEd, it’s not just sports skills; sports values matter most.
As of this writing, Davao Region belongs to the Top 5. The awarding ceremony will be on July 16.
As expected, Paolo Miguel Labanon, who harvested the most number of gold medals last Palaro for the swimming category, reaped the first gold medal for the region.
The rest of the gold medals came in, especially from the Dancesport event. For many years, Dancesport was not part of regular sports but Davao Region had always stood out.
On the first day, they contributed 5 gold medals for the region elevating Region 11 to the Top 3.
Other athletes from athletics, arnis, chess, and Taekwondo already recorded medals for the first three days of the Palaro.
Davao Region hopes for more gold medals. Last year, Davao was in the 6th place overall. RD Farnazo aims for 4th or 5th place this time.
Indeed, the National Capital Region, Calabarzon, Central and Western Visayas are hard to beat, but Davao Region athletes can make someone’s jaw drop.
