Department of Education Region X Regional Director, Dr. Arturo B. Bayocot, CESO III lauded Camiguin local officials for staging and hosting one centralized Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (NMRAA) Meet 2024 in the island province of Camiguin during the grand opening of the highly anticipated event on May 13, at the CPPR Sports Complex.

“I know everybody is excited that once again the five provinces and nine cities are back to the one Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association Meet, and this has come to reality because of our very generous Congressman “JJ” and Governor “XJ” and the rest of the officials in the province of Camiguin and the five municipalities of Camiguin,” RD Bayocot said.

It can be recalled from last year’s third clustered NMRAA Meet 2023 in the island, Camiguin Congressman, Jurdin Jesus  M. Romualdo and Governor Xavier Jesus  D. Romualdo had expressed their willingness and commitment to host this year’s NMRAA meet.

“I remember last year, with the last quarter of the of the Regional Athletic Association Meet, the last cluster was held in Camiguin. The said leaders of the province  whispered to me that they  are more than willing to host one centralized Regional Athletic Association meet,” RD Bayocot  underscored.

The last time, Region X conducted a centralized regional meet was in the year 2019 in Lanao del Norte. Since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the region had refrained from organizing centralized regional meets, opting instead to conduct them in clusters. With the dedicated efforts of Cong. JJ Romualdo and Gov. XJ Romualdo, the long-awaited aspiration to host the centralized NMRAA Meet became a reality after five years of moratorium period.

According to RD Bayocot, staging regional meets and other DepEd related activities will always be with the strong support of the strongest education partners, which  are the local government units. The Provincial Government of Camiguin, along with the Local Government Units (LGU) of the five municipalities in Camiguin, had prepared on a grand scale to host the event.

As the regional director bid to bring the entire Philippines to Palarong Pambansa 2026 in Region X, he stressed that the possibility of this event from happening is never far away from reality, as the LGUs are strong partners of the Department of Education, that has been manifested in Camiguin.

Bayocot said in his speech that he could  sense that Camiguin’s hosting is one of the best regional athletic meets staged ever in the entire region. He believed that the region can do a lot better in the upcoming Palarong Pambansa in Cebu City in July this year because Camiguin has given the region the most beautiful platform for preparation and selection of the best athletes that will bring the bacon home for the entire Northern Mindanao.

“I would say one Northern Mindanao to put up a good fight and will never run away from fights in Palarong Pambansa in Cebu City this July,” emphasized Bayocot.