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Marking its excellence in swimming, athletics, and gymnastics, the National Capital Region breaks the gold mark of 90 for the third consecutive edition of the Palarong Pambansa as it defends its overall championship.
AGUSAN DEL SUR, Philippines – To no surprise, the National Capital Region defended its overall title in 2026 National Games.
NCR finished 19th overall in the championship with 91 gold, 71 silver, and 71 bronze for a total of 233 medals following the conclusion of the competition on Saturday, May 30.
Maintaining its dominance in swimming, athletics, and gymnastics, Metro Stars broke the gold mark of 90 for the third consecutive edition after bagging 98 in Cebu City in 2024 and 117 in Ilocos Norte in 2025.
This Palaro’s most medal winning athlete was from NCR, with a swimmer Patricia Mae Santor winning gold medals in all seven of her events in the secondary girls category.
Jamesray Ajido (secondary boys’ swimming) contributed five golds to NCR, while Tchelzy Mei Maayo (secondary girls’ artistic gymnastics), Ashton Clyde Jose (secondary boys’ swimming), Antonette Amante (secondary girls’ aerobic gymnastics), Sheena Jillianne Girls’ Gymnastics (primary boys’ gymnastics), and France’s Jhobie Rosario (secondary girls’ athletics) contributed four golds each.
Twenty six more athletes from NCR bagged multiple gold medals.
Calabarzon finished second overall for the third consecutive year with 55 golds, 50 silvers and 60 bronzes. Swimmer Charles Nathan Boneo led the belt with six golds that came with three Palaro records in the boys’ primary class.
Two chess players were presented to Calabarzon, too, with Al-Basher Buto and Phil Martin Casiguran winning four golds each in the secondary boys category.
Calabarzon also claimed high school boys basketball title for the first time since 2016, knocking out Davao Region in the finals.
Despite losing the basketball title, Davao Province ranked third overall with 33 golds, 32 silvers and 35 bronzes, improving from fourth place in 2024 and 2025.
Central Visayas (32-30-44) ranked fourth to reach its highest ranking since 2018, while Western Visayas (31-36-45) came in fifth, a sharp drop after placing in the top three in each of the previous editions over the past two decades.
Host region Caraga (30-19-48) finished sixth followed by Northern Mindanao (27-31-31), Central Luzon (27-27-33), Soccsksargen (19-25-32), Zamboanga Peninsula (17-11-13), Negros Island Region (16-14- Eastern-29) Region (14-18-22), Bicol (13-18-21), Cordillera Administrative Region (13-17-16), National Sports Academy (11-5-12), Mimaropa (5-2-7), Cagayan Valley (4-10-18).
Overseas Philippine Schools came last without a medal.
From Mindanao, Palaro will return to Metro Manila for the first time since Marikina City’s 2023 edition while Quezon City will host the 2027 games. – Rappler.com
