Sports: NOPSSCEA to Play in Next Year’s National PRISAA

After two years of not participating in the national Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA), the Negros Occidental Private School Sports, Cultural and Educational Association (NOPSSCEA) is back to join the sports competition to be held sometime in April next year in Lingayen, Pangasinan.

This was disclosed by Kim Dumdum, who represents West Negros University in a meeting Friday with PRISAA National Chairman Emmanuel Angeles at John B. Lacson Maritime University Foundation in Iloilo City.

NOPSSCEA, despite winning majority of sports events in the regional PRISAA failed to participate in the national PRISAA meet held in Zamboanga City last 2011 after they issued official statement criticizing the national leadership, notably Angeles for transparency. Angeles, who is a former Commission on Higher Education (CHED) chairman, is putting himself at PRISAA declaring as Chairman Emeritus. Other schools joining the boycott against Angeles is Foundation University in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.

In the national event held in Cebu last April, PRISAA reportedly suspended NOPSSCEA from participating for a year and would only allow being back next year’s sports competition. Central Visayas dominated the 2011 and 2012 national PRISAA.

Incidentally, National Capital Region (NCR) joins the call of boycott and failed to send athletes in Zamboanga City and Cebu but was not suspended. NCR, whose bulk of athletes were Western Visayas standouts in the Palarong Pambansa, dominated the tertiary private schools sports competition after they joined, following its revival almost seven years ago. Western Visayas dominated the event twice in a row after its revival in Zamboanga City.

Dumdum said Angeles seem to give in to the call of transparency during the meeting and would only push for the accreditation of 1st PRISAA Partylist in the next national election that he is appealing to be nominated as its representative.

All the private colleges and universities in Western Visayas were all represented in the said meeting.

The regional PRISAA will be held tentatively in December this year in Aklan with Aklan Polytechnic College as host.*