SPORTS officials will sit down with governors and mayors of provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao regions this week.
Strengthening the sports development program in the provinces will be the main agenda of Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez when he travels to Cebu on Tuesday and to the Davao region on Thursday.
“He will be consulting with the local government units in relation to sports development,” said executive director Carlo Abarquez.
Ramirez will talk to government officials in these regions and persuade them to set up programs that will prepare them for regional tournaments and national championships.
The government sports agency is all set to relaunch the Batang Pinoy Games and the Philippine National Games, this time with more involvement coming from the provinces.
The PSC chief, who was accompanied by Philippine Sports Institute head Marc Edward Velasco and Henry Daut, went to the municipality of Basista in Pangasinan.
While there, the agency began the challenging task of finding talented athletes.
The chairman had talks with Mayor Manolito de Leon and Malasiqui Mayor Anthony Geslani.
They made an effort to identify 10 sports disciplines where most of their constituents excel.
“We will go to every city and municipality to help them set up a genuine sports program,” said Ramirez, who had a pep talk with over 300 children, who went through a series of sports clinics in different disciplines for three days.
On the other hand, Velasco said they expect the number of national athletes to grow and double with the talent discovery programs of the government in the countryside.