The Palarong Pambansa is over. We wonder, where are the dramatic images?
As we close another chapter of the country’s biggest talent search in sports, there is no hiding the fact that there are still a lot of things that need to be improved. One of that is the handling of results by the Department of Education (Deped) who manages the Palarong Pambansa.
Sports journalists covering the event rued ordeal of getting official results of completed events as they claimed that Deped officials handling the results are holding them from media saying it has go through channels. The results, as explained to the media, are to be forwarded to the secretariat for verification and the final results will be published on the website. Only then through the website can the media obtain the official results. This normally takes overnight. So, the wait is that long if reporters rely on official results. Hence, media had to be creative as to source the results themselves from the field of action in order to get first hand results.
This is nothing new. For decades, the problem has been the same no matter the age of modernization where the Palaro evolved from mere written results, to computerized results and now, electronically transmittable results. Why Deped cannot come up with a more efficient system–one that is swift, accurate and easily verified and accessible–is mind-boggling.
Any sporting event’s success rely heavily on the media coverage it is getting. While other sports event organizers have to literally drag the media to cover their event in order to get the needed publicity mileage, Deped seems not keen on giving the athletes what they deserve as an incentive to their accomplishments which is a documentation of their feats in the media.
Photographers were also barred from areas near the action and were allowed to take snaps only from the bleachers. Those without telephoto lenses struggled to get better images. Hence, obviously there were not as many great-looking mages of the competitions. Even Deped’s Palarong Pambansa social media page is filled only with mugshots and boring photographs. And yes, even the way the medal tally should be made–which is in the order of the most number of golds to the least–is not even observed.
It’s a pity that without a working system that results to better media coverage in place, the Palarong Pambansa will continue to stagnate.
