SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique — The country’s most decorated long jumper Elma Muros will carry the torch and local pride, and many-time tennis national champion Marian Capadocia will lit the cauldron when the Palarong Pambansa’s 60th edition comes off the wraps tomorrow here.
Newly-acquired fighter jets of the Philippine Air Force will make a flyby to salute the guest of honor, President Duterte, and Army skydivers will descend from the skies in aerial display of synchronized acrobatic formations.
Even the nation’s most revered sportsfest has not been spared change in its opening spectacle.
Host Antique and its leaders, led by Gov. Rhodora “Dodod” Cadiao, have orchestrated a spectacle that is a blend of old culture and the magic of newtechology, and of bold imagination with the best of the Palaro tradition.
An improbable innovator in its first turn to host the games, Antique will unveil instead a convergence dance parade that promises to be “entirely original and memorable,” said Cadiao.
It will bring to a convergence as well LED television technology and the magic of laptops and cellphones in this age of Facebook and other social media networks.
The 18 regional delegations will march off from several directions at the newly-renovated Binirayan Sports Complex, converging into an opening extravaganza made memorable by the cultural dances to be performed by the famed “Tutusan Tribe” from the island-municipality of Caluya.
“We are going to show the best of Antique’s rich history in a riot of color, costume, talent and drama,” said Cadiao, who heads the Organizing Committee.