2025 Palarong Pambansa

65th Palarong Pambansa

Logo
Host city	Laoag, Ilocos Norte
Country	Philippines
Motto	"Nagkakaisang Kapuluan" (United Archipelago)
Teams	19 teams (17 regional athletic associations, and two other delegations)
Athletes	14,685
Sport	27
Opening	May 24, 2025 (2025-05-24)
Closing	May 31, 2025 (2025-05-31)
Opened by	Philippine President Bongbong Marcos
Closed by	DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara
Athlete's Oath	Gerick Jhon Flores
Judge's Oath	Hidilyn Diaz
Torch lighter	Roger Tapia
Main venue	Marcos Stadium
Broadcast partner	One Sports
Ceremony venue	Marcos Stadium
Website	palaro.ilocosnorte.ph
←  2024 2026  →

The 2025 Palarong Pambansa , officially known as the 65th Palarong Pambansa, was a multi-sport event held in Laoag, Ilocos Norte in 2025. Student-athletes from 20 athletic associations consisting the 17 regions of the Philippines, the National Academy of Sports, and the Philippine Schools Overseas competed in different sporting events and disciplines.

The National Capital Region was the eighteenth straight general champions. ^[1]

Hosting

The Ilocos Norte was confirmed to be the host the 2025 Palarong Pambansa as early as 2023. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Venues

Marcos Stadium, the opening ceremony venue of the games

The following are the playing venues for the games. ^{[5] [6]}

Municipality	Venue	Event
Bacarra	Bacarra National Comprehensive High School Grounds	Baseball
	Bacarra USA National Cultural Center	Gymnastics
	PCV Socio Civic and Cultural Center	Volleyball
Batac	MMSU Student Center	Billiards
	MMSU Library Center for Flexible Learning	Chess
	MMSU Teatro Ilocandia	Taekwondo
	MMSU Gymnasium	Volleyball
	MMSU Football Field	Football
Burgos	Burgos Military Grounds	Football
Dingras	Dingras Municipal Grounds	Football
	Dingras Civic Center	Volleyball
Laoag	Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena	Basketball, closing ceremony
	Laoag City Amphitheater	Basketball
	SM City Laoag East Wing Parking Lot	Basketball
	St. Mary's Seminary Covered Court	Bocce
	Divine Word College of Laoag Covered Court	Futsal
	Ilocos Norte National High School Gymnasium	Gymnastics
	Marcos Stadium	Athletics, Football and opening ceremony
	Marcos Stadium Swimming Pool	Aquatics
	Marcos Stadium Tennis Court	Tennis
	Northwestern University Football Field	Football
Paoay	Plaza del Norte Hotel and Convention Center	Table Tennis
Pasuquin	Pasuquin Civic Center	Basketball
	Gabaldon Elementary School Grounds	Softball
	Ilocos Norte Agricultural College Open Grounds	Softball
Piddig	Piddig Farmers Training Center	Badminton
San Nicolas	F.E. Marcos Mini Cultural and Sports Center	Arnis
	Robinsons Ilocos	Dance Sport, Kickboxing and Penckak Silat
	Venvi Real State Open Ground	Archery
Sarrat	Sarrat Civic Center	Wushu
Vintar	Vintar Sports Complex	Baseball
	Vintar Civic Center	Gymnastics

The Games

Opening ceremony

The opening of the games was held on May 24, 2025 at the Marcos Stadium in Laoag. It was opened by Philippine president Bongbong Marcos. ^{[7] [8]}

The event started with the "Parada ng mga Atleta" where all delegates participated in a parade along Rizal Street and Sirib Mile in Laoag. The main program was entitled Palakasan:Tales of Filipino Strength where cultural performances showcases the culture of Northern Luzon which includes the Biag ni Lam-ang, the Basi Revolt, and the feats of Ilocano swimmer Teófilo Yldefonso. ^[8]

Olympic gold medalist and weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz led the oath of coaches and technical officials while youth baseball player Gerick Jhon Flores led the athlete's oath. The symbolic lighting of the Palarong Pambansa lightbeam featured various Filipino athletes namely: Jemmuelle James Espiritu (archery), Mark Anthony Domingo (athletics), Jesson Cid (decathlon), Roger Tapia (para-athletics), and Eric Ang (trap shooting). ^[8]

Sports

As of 2025, there are total of 27 sports disciplines, including the para-games, demonstrations, and exhibition sports. ^{[9] [10]}

Weightlifting, last featured in the 1980s, returns to the Palarong Pambansa albeit as a demonstration sport. ^{[11] [12]}

Demonstration sports Dancesport Weightlifting Exhibition sports Kickboxing Parasports Athletics Bocce Goalball Swimming

Regular sports Archery Arnis Athletics Badminton Baseball (details) Basketball (details) Billiards Boxing Chess Football (details) Futsal

Gymnastics Aerobics Artistic Rhythmic Pencak silat Sepak takraw Softball Swimming Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Volleyball (details) Wrestling Wushu

Closing ceremony

The closing ceremony held on May 31, 2025 at the Ilocos Norte Centennial Arena in Laoag. 2025 Palarong Pambansa Ilocos Norte governor Matthew Manotoc hands over the Palarong Pambansa flag to the governor of the host province of the 2026 Palarong Pambansa, Santiago Cane Jr. of Agusan del Sur. ^[13]

Participating teams

  Host Region

The Philippine Schools Overseas and National Academy of Sports also entered as a separate delegations. ^{[14] [15]}

Regions
Code	Name	Monicker [16]	Colors
BARMMAA	Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao	BARMM Sultans
CARAA	Cordillera Administrative Region	Fearless Highlanders
NCRAA	National Capital Region	NCR Metro Stars
IRAA	Region I or Ilocos Region	Mighty Tamaraws
CAVRAA	Region II or Cagayan Valley	Green Hawks
CLRAA	Region III or Central Luzon	Central Luzon Patriots
STCAA	Region IV-A or Southern Tagalog - Calabarzon	Calabarzon Heroes
MRAA	Region IV-B or Southern Tagalog - Mimaropa	Mimaropa Tamaraws
BRAA	Region V or Bicol Region	Bicol Vulcans
WVRAA	Region VI or Western Visayas	The Champs Western Visayas
CVRAA	Region VII Central Visayas	CViRAA Fighters
EVRAA	Region VIII or Eastern Visayas	EV Troopers
ZPRAA	Region IX or Zamboanga Peninsula	Zamboanga Peninsula Sharks
NMRAA	Region X or Northern Mindanao	Northmin Stars
DAVRAA	Region XI or Davao Region	Davao Eagles
SRAA	Region XII or Soccsksargen	Soccsksargen Warriors [17]
CARAGARAA	Region XIII or Caraga	Caragold
Other teams
Code	Name	Monicker	Colors
NAS	National Academy of Sports	NSA Excel Lions [18]
PSO	Association of Philippine Schools Overseas	—

Calendar

OC

Opening ceremony

●

Event competitions

F/M

Finals/Medal events

CC

Closing ceremony

May 2025		24th Saturday	25th Sunday	26th Monday	27th Tuesday	28th Wednesday	29th Thursday	30th Friday	31st Saturday	Events
Ceremonies		OC							CC	—
Regular, Demonstration1, and Para2 Sports
Archery				●	●	●	●			4
Arnis			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Athletics				●	●	●	●	●		5
Badminton				●	●	●	●	●		5
Baseball			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Basketball			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Billiards				●	●	●	●	●		5
Bocce				●	●	●	●			4
Boxing			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Chess				●	●	●	●	●		5
Dancesport					●	●	●			3
Football		●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	8
Futsal				●	●	●	●	●		5
Goalball				●	●	●	●			4
Gymnastics				●	●	●	●	●		5
Kickboxing				●	●	●	●			4
Pencak silat				●	●	●	●			4
Sepak takraw				●	●	●	●	●		5
Softball			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Swimming					●	●	●	●		4
Table tennis			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Taekwondo				●	●	●	●			4
Tennis			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Volleyball			●	●	●	●	●	●		6
Weightlifting				●	●	●	●	●		5
Wrestling					●	●	●	●		4
Wushu				●	●	●	●			4

Source: 2025 Palarong Pambansa Schedule of Games

Medal tally

Regular games

Rank	Region	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	National Capital Region (NCRAA)	117	70	50	237
2	Calabarzon (IV-A STCAA)	47	68	66	181
3	Western Visayas (VI-WVRAA)	44	54	58	156
4	Davao Region (XI-DavRAA)	43	28	36	107
5	Northern Mindanao (X-NMRAA)	31	26	46	103
6	Central Luzon (III-CLRAA)	29	25	36	90
7	Central Visayas (VII-CVIRAA)	25	32	52	109
8	Caraga (CARAGARAA)	21	20	43	84
9	Cordillera Administrative Region (CARAA)	17	13	11	41
10	Eastern Visayas (VIII-EVRAA)	16	17	21	54
11	Soccsksargen (XII-SRAA)	15	25	36	76
12	Ilocos Region (I-R1AA)*	13	16	27	56
13	Bicol Region (V-BRAA)	6	9	31	46
14	National Academy of Sports (NAS)	6	2	6	14
15	Cagayan Valley (II-CAVRAA)	4	11	18	33
16	Mimaropa (IV-B MRAA)	4	6	5	15
17	Zamboanga Peninsula (IX-ZPRAA)	3	17	14	34
18	Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BARMAA)	2	3	5	10
Totals (18 entries)		443	442	561	1,446

Source: Palarong Pambansa 2025 Medal Tally Reporting System

Demonstration games

Rank	Region	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Zamboanga Peninsula (IX-ZPRAA)	4	2	1	7
2	Calabarzon (IV-A STCAA)	3	4	1	8
3	Central Visayas (VII-CVIRAA)	3	3	0	6
4	Central Luzon (III-CLRAA)	0	1	0	1
5	National Capital Region (NCRAA)	0	0	7	7
6	Caraga (CARAGARAA)	0	0	1	1
7	Ilocos Region (I-R1AA)*	0	0	0	0
Totals (7 entries)		10	10	10	30

Source: Palarong Pambansa 2025 Medal Tally Reporting System

Para games

Rank	Region	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Western Visayas (VI-WVRAA)	23	21	14	58
2	Calabarzon (IV-A STCAA)	13	16	10	39
3	Soccsksargen (XII-SRAA)	8	4	7	19
4	National Capital Region (NCRAA)	7	4	6	17
5	Davao Region (XI-DavRAA)	5	5	7	17
6	Bicol Region (V-BRAA)	4	5	0	9
7	Zamboanga Peninsula (IX-ZPRAA)	4	3	4	11
8	Ilocos Region (I-R1AA)*	3	1	8	12
9	Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BARMAA)	3	1	1	5
10	Cagayan Valley (II-CAVRAA)	2	3	1	6
11	Central Luzon (III-CLRAA)	1	6	5	12
12	Eastern Visayas (VIII-EVRAA)	1	4	6	11
13	Central Visayas (VII-CVIRAA)	1	2	1	4
14	Caraga (CARAGARAA)	1	1	4	6
15	Northern Mindanao (X-NMRAA)	1	1	0	2
Totals (15 entries)		77	77	74	228

Source: Palarong Pambansa 2025 Medal Tally Reporting System

Marketing

1928 photo of Teófilo Yldefonso which was the inspiration of the logo.

The logo for the 2025 Palarong Pambansa features the inabel weaving pattern and a "pixelated human figure" inspired from a photo of Teófilo Yldefonso, a swimmer who is the first Filipino Olympic medal winner and a native of Piddig. ^{[19] [20]}

Media coverage

On May 2, 2025, Cignal TV served as the official broadcaster for this tournament that aired on One Sports, One Sports+, Cignal Play and Pilipinas Live. This was also the first Palarong Pambansa to aired on Philippine television. ^[21]

References

1. Ulanday, John Bryan (May 31, 2025). "NCR rules Palarong Pambansa for 18th straight time". Philstar.com . Retrieved May 31, 2025.
2. Mindanao, Chris V. Panganiban Inquirer (July 4, 2023). "Ilocos Norte eyes hosting Palarong Pambansa 2025". Philippine News Agency. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
3. "Ilocos Norte aims to match Cebu City for Palaro 2025". Cebu Daily News. July 16, 2024. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
4. "Rain-hit Palarong Pambansa concludes as Marikina passes hosting torch to Cebu City". Rappler. August 5, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
5. "Playing Venues". Palarong Pambansa 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
6. "Playing Venues". Palarong Pambansa. Department of Education. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
7. "PBBM to Palaro athletes: Enjoy your sport, win or lose". Philippine Information Agency. May 24, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
8. Valente, Catherine (May 24, 2025). "Marcos kicks off Palarong Pambansa 2025 in Ilocos Norte". The Manila Times. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
9. Saldajeno, Ivan Stewart; Philippine News Agency (July 22, 2023). "Esports to be played in Palaro '23". Philippine Canadian Inquirer. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
10. "Sports to Compete". Palarong Pambansa. Department of Education. May 13, 2025. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
11. "Weightlifting in grand return to 2025 Palarong Pambansa". BusinessWorld. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
12. Navarro, June (May 25, 2025). "Weightlifting, thanks to Hidilyn, now part of Palarong Pambansa". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
13. Micaller, Bea (May 31, 2025). "Agusan del Sur to host 2026 Palarong Pambansa". GMA News. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
14. Escudero, Christa (July 13, 2024). "Historic debut: Budding national athletes, overseas Filipino students join Palaro". Rappler. Archived from the original on July 13, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2025.
15. "NAS graduates pioneer batch, eyes strong Palaro 2025 run". Philippine Daily Inquirer. April 22, 2025. Retrieved April 23, 2025.
16. "Regional Monickers". Palarong Pambansa. Department of Education. Archived from the original on May 22, 2025. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
17. "Region XII". Palarong Pambansa. Department of Education. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
18. "NAS" . Retrieved May 31, 2025.
19. Demigillo, Kiko (May 21, 2025). "PH's first Olympic medalist: Teofilo Yldefonso inspires Palarong Pambansa 2025 logo". OneSports. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
20. Dioquino, Delfin (May 17, 2025). "Who is the man in the Palarong Pambansa 2025 logo?". Rappler. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
21. Demigillo, Kiko (May 2, 2025). "One Sports to broadcast Palarong Pambansa 2025 from Ilocos Norte". One Sports . Archived from the original on May 14, 2025. Retrieved May 2, 2025.