The Philippine Youth Games – Batang Pinoy or simply Batang Pinoy () is the national

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...

sports competition of the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

for athletes under 15 years old. Unlike the

Palarong Pambansa The Palarong Pambansa ( Filipino for "National Games") is an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from 17 regions of the Philippines. The event, started in 1948, is organized and governed by the Department of Education. Student- ...

a competition for student athletes, the Batang Pinoy also includes the out-of-school youth.

History

The Batang Pinoy was established through the Executive Order No. 44 which was signed by then President

Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada, (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor. He served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001, the 9th vice presi ...

on December 2, 1998. The first edition was held in Bacolod in 1999. From then, the games were held annually with Santa Cruz, Laguna (2000), Bacolod (2001) Puerto Princesa (2002) hosting the next three editions. The 2002 and prior editions, were for athletes of 12 years and below. In 2003, the

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the go ...

decided to put the competition, along with its other national competitions, on hold so the sports body could reallocate funds to the national teams' stint at the

Southeast Asian Games The Southeast Asian Games, also known as the SEA Games, is a biennial multi-sport event involving participants from the current 11 countries of Southeast Asia. The games are under the regulation of the Southeast Asian Games Federation with sup ...

. The Batang Pinoy was held again in 2011, and is held annually since then. In 2017, the prospects of ending the organization of Batang Pinoy was raised due to it being redundant to the

, another national games but for student-athletes below 18 years of age. In 2020, Batang Pinoy was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines The COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines has resulted in, as of , reported cases, resulting in reported deaths, the fifth-highest in Southeast Asia, behind Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The first case in the Philippines was ...

. Last held in 2019 in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, the Batang Pinoy would be not held until 2022 in Vigan,

Ilocos Sur Ilocos Sur, officially the Province of Ilocos Sur ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Sur; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Sur), is a province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region in Luzon. Located on the mouth of the Mestizo River is the capital o ...

Editions

Host of the Batang Pinoy National Championships. (*) Hosting of the originally 2013 edition postponed to early 2014. A second Batang Pinoy was hosted in the same year.

References

{{International multi-sport events Batang Pinoy Recurring sporting events established in 1998 Multi-sport events in the Philippines 1998 establishments in the Philippines Youth multi-sport events Youth sport in the Philippines