President Benigno Aquino III will be the guest of honor and speaker at the opening of the 2012 Palarong Pambansa on May 7 at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center , reports from the wires said.

In a meeting with the Palarong Pambansa executive committee yesterday, Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino Jr. announced the scheduled visit of the president on the opening of the games.

He said that the original plan to hold the opening ceremonies of the Palaro on May 6 has been moved to May 7 to adjust to the availability of President Aquino.

Some 10,000 athletes from 17 regions throughout the country are seeing action in the Palarong Pambansa to be hosted by Pangasinan from May 6 to 12 this year.

Of the 17 regional delegations, athletes of Region 4B (the Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan area) numbering 258 have already arrived in Lingayen since April 17, with 300 more arriving yesterday to enable them to acclimatize with the weather in Pangasinan.

The playing venues are the NRSCC and other sites in Lingayen and Binmaley as well as Dagupan and San Carlos cities.

Despite the new date of the opening ceremonies, competitions that are originally set to start on May 6 will still be played as scheduled.

This year's Palaro is expected to be different from previous events with the strict enforcement of the ban on plastic and styrofoam materials in line with the campaign for cleaner and greener environment, reports from Lingayen said.

Governor Espino said that since this will be the second time after 17 years that Pangasinan is hosting the Palarong Pambansa, it will be made as the benchmark for all future events.

The Espino administration will try to outdo the province's performance in 1995 when it first hosted the event when Fidel V. Ramos, a native of Lingayen and Asingan towns, was president of the country. *PNA

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