The 2016 Palarong Pambansa was the 59th edition of the annual multi-sporting event for Filipino student-athletes. Athletic associations from the country's 18 regions were competed in different sporting events and discipline. The games were held at the

Bicol University Bicol University (), also referred to by its acronym (BU or Bicol U), is a regional state, research and coeducational higher education institution in Legazpi City, Albay, Philippines, with external campuses scattered throughout the provinces of ...

Sports Complex, in

Albay Albay (IPA: ), officially the Province of Albay (; ; Baybayin, ᜎᜎᜏᜒᜄᜈ᜔ ᜈᜅ᜔ ᜀᜎ᜔ᜊᜌ᜔), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Bicol Region of the Philippines, mostly on the southeastern part of the isla ...

Province, from April 10–16, 2016.

Negros Island Region The Negros Island Region (NIR). is an administrative region in the Philippines. Covering both the islands of Negros and Siquijor, the region is composed of three provinces: Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor, as well as the ...

which was created in 2015, participated for the first time in the Palarong Pambansa as a region.

Bidding

As of May 6, 2015, Only Albay has formally submitted a bid to host the games. The hosts of the games were originally set to be announced in June 2015 but the Department of Education announced that the Palarong Pambansa board will convene in August 2016 regarding the hosts of the 2016 edition. In October 2015, the DepED, together with the Philippine Sports Commission formally awarded the hosting rights of the 2016 Palarong Pambansa to Albay province. Albay won the bidding, against

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...

province. On January 25, 2016, the Albay government and the

Department of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

signed a memorandum of agreement for the formal staging of the games.

Other bids

Aside from Albay and Cagayan, other provinces also expressed or considered to bid for the hosting rights of the games. ;Benguet After losing their bid to host the 2014 Palarong Pambansa,

Baguio Baguio ( , , ), officially the City of Baguio (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

and

Benguet Benguet (), officially the Province of Benguet ('';'' ; ; ; ), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital cit ...

made a joint bid for the 2016 edition of the games. The Baguio Athletic Bowl and the Benguet Sports Complex in Wangal, La Trinidad were touted as one of the venues of the games.

Plan for the games

Albay's bid includes plans to make a new sports facility, the Albay Sports Complex to be constructed in Guinobatan as the main venue of the games. Two newly constructed swimming pools and a tennis court will be used, while several indoor sporting events will be held in St. Agnes Academy, Aquinas University and Divine Word College in Legazpi. The games will also be promoted as a sports tourism event, the first time in the history of the sporting tournament. Aside from the Palarong Pambansa, Albay will also host the Albay Xterra Off-Road Triathlon and Le Tour de Filipinas on February and the Mayon 360° Ultra Marathon on April. Sports venues will be spread out throughout the province of Albay to promote local tourism. Governor Joey Salceda, said that the province will be spending 450 million pesos budget for the construction of the playing venues before the opening ceremony of the 2016 Palaro.

Milo Milo may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Milo (magazine), ''Milo'' (magazine), a strength sports magazine * ''Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze'', a 2011 children's novel by Alan Silberberg * Milo (video game), ''Milo'' (video game) * Milo ( ...

has also committed for the sponsorship in the 2016 Palarong Pambansa.

Media and television coverage

The live television coverage of the 2016 Palarong Pambansa were broadcast on

ABS-CBN Sports and Action ABS-CBN Sports and Action (stylized as ABS-CBN Sports+Action or simply S+A or S and A), was a free-to-air television network based in Quezon City. It was owned by ABS-CBN Corporation with some of its programs produced and licensed by ABS-CBN ...

. ABS-CBN forged an historical partnership agreement with the Local Government of Albay and the DepEd for the live coverage of the Palarong Pambansa on April 5, 2016 at the ELJ Communications Center in the network's compound in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

. As part of the signed agreement, the network committed to air the games and events of the 9-day athletic meet (except during the gamedays of the UAAP, on which will be aired on a primetime slot), particularly in Basketball and Volleyball, on both ABS-CBN Sports and Action Channel 23 and ABS-CBN Sports and Action HD Channel 166 (on

SkyCable Sky Cable (stylized as SKYcable) is a cable television service of Sky Cable Corporation in the Philippines. It covers areas across the country with both digital and analog cable services, and it has 700,000 subscribers, controlling 45% of th ...

), including the Opening Ceremonies on April 10. They will also produce a documentary, featurettes and interviews with the past athletes who started their athletic career in the Palarong Pambansa as part of the network's continuous mission on sports development. PBN Broadcasting Network, Inc.'s Legazpi-based AM radio station DZGB 729 kHz has also provided the live and blow-by-blow coverage of the proceedings of the Palarong Pambansa 2016.

Myx Myx (, stylized as MYX or myx and pronounced as ''mix'') is a Philippine pay television channel based in Quezon City and owned by Creative Programs Inc., a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation. The channel is targeted to youth audiences and pri ...

is also aired coverage of the Palarong Pambansa 2016 via Channel 66 Naga and Channel 56 Legazpi.

Sports

In this year's Palaro, there will be 1,095 medals to be given away to the winners and the runners-up in the following sporting disciplines to be contested in the competition. These are 151 golds, 151 silvers and 183 golds in the elementary division, while 187 golds, 187 silvers and 236 golds in the secondary division.

Regular Games

Demonstration Games

These are the demonstration sports for this year's Palarong Pambansa. Deped Assistant Secretary Tonisito Umali, as stated in an interview that the organizing committee will evaluate all 5 demo sports whether they will elevated their status into a regular sport or it will scrapped instead. *

Billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

* Sepak takraw (Girls) *

Wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

Wushu Wushu may refer to: Martial arts * Chinese martial arts, the various martial arts of China * Wushu (sport) Wushu () (), or kung fu, is a competitive Chinese martial art. It integrates concepts and forms from various traditional and modern ...

Participating regions

With the inclusion of the

, a total of 18 regions will be participating in the 7-day athletic meet.

Playing Venues

27 sporting venues for 21 sports disciplines will be used for the entire duration of the 2016 Palarong Pambansa in

. Those venues are located in Legazpi, the province's capital and four municipalities, Camalig, Daraga Guinobatan and Sto. Domingo. Aside from the venues, 18 billeting centers for the athletes and technical officials scattered along Guinobatan, Camalig, Daraga, Sto. Domingo, Ligao, Bacacay, and Legazpi will be used. As of March 12, 2016:

Camalig Camalig, officially the Municipality of Camalig (; ), is a municipality in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it had a population of 72,042 people. It is popularly known for its finest delicacy—Pinangat, a Bico ...

*Camalig Gymnasium -

Table Tennis Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Provincial Engineering Office -

Archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

(Secondary)

Daraga Daraga ( ɐrɐ'gaofficially the Municipality of Daraga ; ), is a municipality in the province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 133,893. The municipality is home to the famous Cagsawa Ruins. Hist ...

*Bagumbayan Covered Court - Sepak Takraw (Juniors) *Bicol College Gymnasium -

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *BUCENG Gymnasium -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Daraga Covered Court - Sepak Takraw (Seniors / Girls) *Sunshine International School Gymnasium -

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

(Girls - Secondary) *United Institute – Goalball Guinobatan *Albay Provincial Sports Center -

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(Boys - Elementary) *Arandungan Hall -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary) *BUCAF Tennis Court -

Tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Guinobatan Covered Court -

(Girls - Secondary) *Ohhlala Resort Tennis Court –

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary)

Legazpi City Legazpi (, American Spanish: , European Spanish: ), officially the City of Legazpi (; ), is a Component City, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippines, province of Albay, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a ...

*Albay Astrodome -

Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Albay Ligñon Hill Tennis Court -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Albay Sports and Tourism Complex - Opening and Closing Ceremonies ** ASTC Track Oval –

Athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary / Special Games) ** ASTC Swimming Pool –

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary / Special Games) *Aquinas Dome - Taekwando (Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Ayala Mall Legazpi -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary) * Aquinas University of Legazpi Student Pavilion -

Chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

(Secondary/Elementary) * Bicol University Football Field -

(Boys - Secondary) *BU Research and Development Center – Bocce *BU Institute of Architecture – Shot Put *DENR Gymnasium -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *DPWH 2nd District Engineering Office Gymnasium -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) * Divine Word College of Legazpi High School Gymnasium -

Arnis Arnis, also known as kali or eskrima/escrima, is the national martial art of the Philippines. These three terms are, sometimes, interchangeable in referring to traditional martial arts of the Philippines (" Filipino Martial Arts", or FMA), wh ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) *Hotel St. Ellis -

(Boys/Girls - Secondary) *Ibalong Centrum for Recreation -

(Boys - Secondary) *Peñaranda Park -

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

(Boys - Secondary) *Sagrada Familia Gymnasium -

(Boys - Elementary) *St. Agnes Academy -

Gymnastics Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...

(Boys/Girls - Secondary/Elementary) Sto. Domingo *Mayon Rivera Subdivision -

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

(Boys - Secondary/Elementary),

Softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

(Boys - Secondary/Elementary) *Sto. Domingo Basketball Court -

(Girls - Secondary)

Competition proper

Opening ceremonies

Before the opening ceremonies, a torch relay was conducted from April 8, 2016 until the opening day. The opening ceremony was held on April 10, 2016 at the Albay Sports and Tourism Complex, that was lasted for two hours. The program was hosted by ABS-CBN Sports and Action anchor TJ Manotoc. One of the main parts of the afternoon program was the grand parade of more than 14,000 student-athletes from 18 regions competing in the Palarong Pambansa. The athletes, then sang "Sulong Sa Tagumpay Atletang Pinoy" (Onward to the Victories of Filipino Athletes), the 2016 Palarong Pambansa Hymn, composed by Francisco Bulalacao, Jr. Among those who have given the welcoming remarks during the event are Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal, Daraga Mayor Gerry Jaucian and Deped Region 5 Director Ramon Fiel Abcede. Former Secretary of Justice

Leila de Lima Leila Norma Eulalia Josefa Magistrado de Lima (born August 27, 1959) is a Filipino politician, lawyer, human rights activist and law professor who is the representative-elect for Mamamayang Liberal, the sectoral wing of the Liberal Party. De ...

and

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

vice mayor

Isko Moreno Francisco "Isko" Moreno Domagoso (; born October 24, 1974) is a Filipino politician, actor, host and entrepreneur who is the mayor-elect of Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, having been 2025 Manila local elections, elected in 202 ...

, who both senatorial candidates were present in the opening ceremonies. The Palarong Pambansa banner was turn-over from the officials of the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

host province

Davao del Norte Davao del Norte (; ), officially the Province of Davao del Norte (; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Davao Region in Mindanao. Its capital and largest city is Tagum. The province also includes Sam ...

to Albay governor

Joey Salceda Jose Ma. Clemente "Joey" Sarte Salceda (, born October 26, 1961) is a Filipino statesman and the current Representative of Albay's 2nd District in the Philippine House of Representatives. He previously served as governor of Albay province in t ...

and Abcede. Education secretary

Armin Luistro Brother Armin Altamirano Luistro (born December 24, 1961) is a Filipino Lasallian Brother who served as secretary of the Department of Education of the Philippines under President Benigno Aquino III. He is the first Asian Superior General of ...

formally opens the affair. During the event, a skydiver from the

Philippine Air Force The Philippine Air Force (PAF) () is the aerial warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Initially formed as part of the Philippine Army as the Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC) in 1935, the PAAC eventually saw combat ...

was injured and rushed to the hospital after the accidental landing of his parachute into a swimming pool.

GlobalPort Batang Pier The NorthPort Batang Pier is a Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) team that first played in the 2012–13 PBA season. The team took over the franchise of the Powerade Tigers in 2012 after it was sold to Sultan 900 Capital, Inc. Besides N ...

basketball player

Terrence Romeo Terrence Bill Vitanzos Romeo (born March 16, 1992) is a Filipino professional basketball player and for the Terrafirma Dyip of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). He plays both the point guard and shooting guard positions. He also ser ...

and Francis Everesto, the first person-with-disability (PWD) torchbearer in the competition's history, formally lit the cauldron with a friendship urn, signifying the start of the 2016 Palarong Pambansa in Albay. The ceremony ended with a fireworks display.

Medals

Regular Games

References

{{reflist Palarong Pambansa

Palarong Pambansa The Palarong Pambansa ( Filipino for "National Games") is an annual multi-sport event involving student-athletes from the different regions of the Philippines. The event which was known as the BPISAA Games from its inception in 1948 until 197 ...

Sports in Albay April 2016 sports events in the Philippines