THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is gearing up for a more exciting edition of the Batang Pinoy 2025, set to take place in General Santos City from October 25 to 30.
As one of PSC’s flagship grassroots sports programs, Batang Pinoy, expected to draw around 15,000 athletes nationwide, caters to athletes aged 17 and below and serves as a vital platform to discover and develop future stars in Philippine sports.
This year’s edition will feature competitions in 27 sports — aquatics-swimming, archery, arnis, athletics, badminton, basketball (3×3), boxing, chess, cycling, dancesport, futsal, gymnastics, jiu jitsu, judo, kickboxing, karate, muay, pencak silat, sepak takraw, soft tennis, tennis, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling and wushu.
“Our main objective for this year’s Batang Pinoy is to provide the delegates an excellent experience as if they are already competing in a global level of competition they usually see in televisions and social media,” PSC chairman Richard Bachmann stated.
Coming off a successful and memorable previous edition of the tournament held in Puerto Princesa City in November last year, this year’s Batang Pinoy will be hosted in the city famously known as the “Tuna Capital of the Philippines”
GenSan, home of world-class sporting icons Manny Pacquiao and Nonito Donaire, Jr., has proven its capacity to host multiple local and international sporting events since then.
In 1996, GenSan served as co-host of the Palarong Pambansa with the City of Koronadal and the Province of Sarangani, proving the city can hold programs dedicated for the youth through sports.
Within the same year, GenSan hosted the inaugural edition of the Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area or BIMP-EAGA Friendship Games as well as its seventh edition in 2012.
In October last year, the city stressed its commitment in promoting sports across all sectors by staging the Mindanao leg of the Indigenous Peoples Games, another grassroots program of the PSC for members of the indigenous communities.
And just last March, the city served as host of the National Age Group Duathlon, a series organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines. Aside from it, GenSan numerously served as home for school-based tournaments including the Private Schools Athletic Association (PRISAA) Meet and the Northern Mindanao Regional Athletic Association (NMRAA) Meet, a qualifying stage going to the Palaro.
Preparations started as early as March 18, 2025, with the PSC and General Santos City government started rolling their talks in conducting the Batang Pinoy. The PSC’s Technical Working Group led by its project head Dindin Urquiaga met with Mayor Lorelie G. Pacquiao and had an initial ocular inspection for the potential venues of competitions.
“We plan to implement innovations that will best serve all the delegates,” Urquiaga said.
Mayor Pacquiao, with the help of their local sports division unit officers Lady Margaret Manalo and Gerardo Gonzales, expressed the city’s full support in the program and generously offered GenSan as the stage that enables a stronger sporting community that empowers the youth to be the future source of pride for the Philippine sports.
