PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio has identified 14 locations spread all across the country that will serve as the PSC regional training centers, one of them the new Clark City in Capas, Tarlac.
“We have identified the locations of the PSC’s 14 regional training centers, some of which already have existing sports facilities and complexes,” said Gregorio during the PSC Sports Stakeholders Forum at the Solaire Resort in Paranaque City last Tuesday.
Gregorio said the New Clark City, which boasts of the world-class NCC Athletic Stadium and NCC Aquatic Center, will be the site of the 20-hectare Philippine Sports Training Center, which was concretized with the passing of Republic Act 11214 in 2019.
“Bases Conversion and Development Authority president and chief executive officer Joshua Bingcang has offered us 20 hectares as the site of the PSTC,” said Gregorio.
He added that the BCDA chief also offered 5,000 square meters at its property in Camp John Hay in Baguio for high-altitude training facility for the country’s national athletes.
The other regional training centers, he said, are: the Ferdinand Marcos Memorial Stadium in Laoag, Ilocos Norte; the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila, which will undergo an extensive renovation; Bataan, Tayabas, Quezon; Iwahig, Palawan; Ormoc and Tacloban, Leyte; Passi, Iloilo; the Pana-ad Sports Complex in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Siargao, Surigao del Sur; Zamboanga City; General Santos City in Mindanao; and the Bukidnon Sports and Cultural Complex in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
Sen. Miguel Zubiri, Philippine Eskrima Kali Arnis president and the prime mover behind building the Bukidnon Sports and Cultural Complex, said the facility would be ideal for national athletes in the PSC pool who come from Mindanao, among them Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Carlo Paalam.
Gregorio said the government sports agency is tapping the services of noted landscape architect and urban planner Paulo Alcazaren to draw up a grand design for the renovated Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, whose area is generally flood-prone.
Gregorio said this includes transferring and building the PSC administration building to the Adriatico side, besides the Rizal Memorial Stadium and which will be dubbed the “PSC House” that will serve as its new headquarters.
“The PSC House will have 14 function rooms and will serve as our venue when we fete important international sports officials whenever they are in the country,” he said.
He added that the building housing the Philippine Taekwondo Association central gym on Pablo Ocampo Sr. St, formerly Vito Cruz, will be the new hub for National Sports Association Affairs.
“This building will have a help desk that will be available for our national athletes for whatever their needs are,” Gregorio said.
