INDANG, Cavite – Sen. Francis Tolentino formally declared the opening of the Luzon leg of the 2nd Reserves Officer Training Corps (ROTC) Games, which finally comes off the wraps in various venues around Indang and Tagaytay City.
“On behalf of the organizing committee of the 2024 ROTC Games Luzon Leg, and by virtue of the powers given to me by the Senate Committee, I hereby declare formally open the 2024 ROTC Games Luzon leg,” said Sen. Tolentino.
Tolentino, widely considered the “Father of the ROTC Games,” was joined by Sen. Robin Padilla, Cavite State University (CvSU) president Hernando D. Robles, Philippine Sports Commissioner Fritz Gaston and officials of the Department of National Defense and Commission on Higher Education.
“Tayong mga Pilipino ay nasa malayang malayang bansa at yang kalayaan na yan kayo ang magtatanggol nyan. Kayo yun tinatawag na talagang matatapang, na hindi katulad ng ibang kabataan na magaling lang sa keyboard sa social media. Ang tatapang sa social media, pero ayaw sa ROTC,” said Sen. Padilla during his speech.
“Gusto ko na i-announce na mag-bibigay ako ng karagdagang P500,000 kay Senator Tol para sa ROTC,” added Padilla
Dr. Robles also thanked Sen. Tolentino for choosing CvSU as the host of this year’s ROTC Games.
“Gusto ko lang pasalamatan ang ating butihing senador Francis “Tol” Tolentino na muli kaming piliin na mag-host ng ROTC Games ngayong taon. Kung matatandaan ninyo, dito din sa atin ginawa ang kauna-unahang ROTC Games, na ngayon ay mas supporta dahil na din sa pagtutulungan ng ating mga kasamahan sa Department of National Defense, Philippine Sports Commission, Commission on Higher Education, at Office of the Senator Tolentino.” said Dr. Robles.
“Congratulations, Sen. Tol. Your brainchild the ROTC Games now has a total of 14 sports from only seven last year,” said Comm. Gaston
“I was just talking about adding more disciplines when we were still in our first year and I’m happy nag-materialize. I went to the 2024 ROTC Visayas leg in Bacolod and I was excited to see more teams in action,” added Gaston.
This year, around 3,000 cadet participants from various colleges and universities across the region will compete in 14 sports disciplines. These are arnis, athletics, 3×3 basketball, boxing, chess, e-sports, kickboxing, sepak takraw, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, target shooting, volleyball, and raiders competition.
Basketball, boxing, chess, sepak takraw, table tennis, volleyball, and the raiders competition will kick off today.
Chess, table tennis, volleyball, and raiders competitions will be held at the CvSU Indang Campus.
Boxing at the Tagaytay Combat Sports Center, sepak takraw at Sigtuna Hall, and 3×3 basketball at Robinsons Tagaytay Basketball Court and City College of Tagaytay.
Based on data, a total of 2,820 are participating in the Luzon leg compared to 1,703 in the Visayas leg in Bacolod City and 1,650 in the Mindanao leg in Zamboanga City.
Basketball has the most number of entries with entries 503, followed by e-sports (491), athletics (449), indoor volleyball (366), arnis (225), raiders competition (190), taekwondo (156), swimming (116), table tennis (103), chess (97), boxing (95), kickboxing (69), sepak takraw (65) and target shooting (59).
In the Miss ROTC, there are 27 entries.
The Visayas leg of the ROTC Games was held in Bacolod City last May 26-June 1, while the Mindanao leg in Zamboanga City was played last June 23-29.
The National Championship is scheduled on August 18-24 also in Indang, Cavite.
