ALAMINOS CITY — Liquor and gun bans are now in effect as the five-day Region 1 Athletic Association (R1AA) meet fired off Sunday at the Alaminos City National High School (ACNHS) grounds, hosted by this city for the first time.
Participated in by some 10,000 athletes, coaches and officials from Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte and their respective cities, the R1AA meet will choose the best athletes that will represent the Palarong Pambansa slated in Bantay, Ilocos Sur sometime in April this year.
Pangasinan is represented by two school divisions—Pangasinan I and II.
Pangasinan II is R1AA’s champion in 2015, 2016 and 2017 with Dagupan City as back-to-back runner-up in 2016 and 2017.
Guest of honor and speaker during the opening rites was Department of Education Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Alberto Bayot.
The R1AA meet uses the point system now used in the Olympics in defermining the top winner in the meet and no longer the medal count as decided by the R1AA board, said Edilberto Abalos, a DepEd education supervisor and a member of the R1AA technical committee. (Leonardo Micua/PNA)