PALARO FOOTBALL MANAGER RUFINO ARELLANA GOT HIS INSPIRATION TO ORGANIZE THE CEBU FOOTBALL BUBBLE TOURNAMENT FROM HER 9-YEAR-OLD GRAND DAUGHTER MARGAUX TRIXIE ARELLANO. SHE IS HERE WITH HER GRANDFATHER RUFINO ARELLANO.
Rufino Arellano the current football manager of the Palarong Pambansa, has been working for the Department of Education for 27 years now. He has been on his current job as Palaro football manager since 2014.
He has been responsible for the planning and for bringing the Palaro Football bubble tournament in Cebu City and he started working on the tournament since November last year. He started planning when the Department of Education told the 27 sports discipline to send project proposals to make their specific sports return to competition after the COVID 19 pandemic.
“I looked for various LGU’s to sponsor and host a football event. I talked to the Masbate LGU but was turned down because of the election,” he said.
When everything seems to be on the brink of being scrapped, Arellano found unusual allies during in December last year. His nine-year-old grand daughter Margaux Trixie Arellano, the daughter of his eldest son got ill and needed to be hospitalize.
The COVID pandemic was still ranging in Manila and they could not bring her for the needed medical attention. Since it was easier to send her to Cebu, they sent her to Cebu City and she was admitted at Perpetual Socour hospital. While in Cebu City, Arellano had lots of free times as he was not allowed to be with his grand daughter by the doctors in the hpspital.
Thats when he decided to work. He approached the president of the Central Visayas Regional Football Association (CVRFA) president Rodney Orale and got a positive response. He then brought his proposal to the DepEd national office for the approval.
To cut the long story short, the national DepEd office approved his proposal, and then everything is history as the Palarong Pambansa football bubble tournament just started this morning at the Cebu City Sports Center.
During the opening ceremony before the Secondary Girls football clash between, Mandaue City and Cebu City, Arellano thanked his superiors for helping organise and approving this event. “We are organising this event in accordance with the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) rules which is vital to the future of sports and physical literacy in the country. I thank Dep ED officials Joel S. Erestain, Dr. Maximo Abalos, Edward Masukat II for the support and guidance,” he said.
He also thanked local hosts, DepEd officials Cristito Eco, Regional Director Zaldy Gimenez, the Cebu City Sports Commission, Cebu City LGU, and the CVRFA president Rodney Orale.
“Thanks also to the participating teams Don Bosco Technology Center, Sacred Heart-Ateneo de Cebu, Don Bosco Boys Home-Liloan National High School, and Abellana National School, the players, the parents and all the football fans,” he added.
Arellano played in the Palaro during his high school days in Tacloban and Dipolog. He was a college varsity player with University of Sto. Tomas from 1085-90. After graduation, his football journey did not finish as he organised the South East Luzon Masbate Regional FA. His brother Diobe Arellano played for Southern Tagalog Region in the Cebu Palaro in 1994 where they won silver. He then became a member of the national team from 1995-97 and even played in the Southeast Asian Games. Now, he is the president of SELMRA.
For Margaux Trixie Arellano well, she has recovered from her illness and is back with her parents in Masbate. (jackbiantan@gmail.com)
