DAVAO CITY— Philippine Sports Commission chair Butch Ramirez said Wednesday that the inaugural staging of the Mindanao Children’s Games would push through as scheduled Thursday at the Rizal Park despite the Marawi insurgency that placed this economic and commercial capital of the South under heightened security alert.
“In the midst of global terrorism, national terrorism like the Marawi case, the more I am focused on using sports as a vehicle for peace,’’ said Ramirez.
“I know it can be dangerous, but again we will always be guided by the local leadership and the police if we can continue or not,’’ added the PSC chief, the architect of the Sports For Peace program of the government.
Out-of-school and school-based children ages 12 years old and below will play in a variety of sports during the three-day sportsfest. Ramirez said the PSC would also bring the Children’s Games in the Cordilleras, Visayas and other war-torn areas in Mindanao.
Davao City mayor Sarah Duterte affirmed that the Games would proceed as planned but firmly reminded that all activities should be limited in the morning and early afternoon.
Meanwhile, Ramirez has called off the ongoing Philippine Sports Institute activity in Marawi City after Duterte placed Mindanao under Martial Law following the terror attacks by the Maute rebel group in the area.