CEBU CITY. – Former Gintong Alay executive director and current Laoag City Mayor Michael Keon announced Wednesday night that the Department of Education has officially awarded the hosting of the 2025 edition of the Palarong Pambansa to the province of Ilocos Norte.
“I am very delighted to announce that the province of Ilocos Norte will be the host of the Palarong Pambansa next year. It was something we worked out with Ilocos Norte Gov. Matthew Manotoc and the Department of Education,” Keon said.
“It is a great honor to have one of the premier sports events in the country played in Laoag City,” added the mayor of Ilocos Norte’s provincial capital over dinner hosted by PSC Commissioner Ed Hayco.
He pointed out that the province’s successful bid comes on the heels of Laoag City capturing overall honors in the recent Region 1 Athletic Association meet for the first time in 52 years that Ilocos Norte hosted.
“It (the Palarong Pambansa) is good propagation for sports. You all know my background so we are happy hosting it,” said the country’s former sports czar, whose Gintong Alay program in the late seventies to eighties made the Philippines a sports powerhouse in Southeast Asia and Asia.
The 25,000-seat President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Stadium and the adjacent Olympic-size 50-meter swimming pool in Laoag City will serve as the main hub of the national sportsfest for secondary and elementary school athletes.
“We will have athletics and football at the stadium and, of course, swimming at the adjacent pool. Of course, we would like to have most, if not all, of the events in our city but we leave that prerogative to the Ilocos Norte provincial government,” he said.
Keon said hosting the Palarong Pambansa is significant considering his previous experience as head of the Ilocos Norte Sports Development Council that began in 2000 when President Marcos Jr. was still the province’s governor.
“We were able to win the Region 1 overall championships for 11 straight years during that time,” he said, adding that he and the province might pay a tribute to former Asian sprint queen Lydia de Vega, one of the outstanding products of Gintong Alay.
