PSC holds Larong Pinoy for Davao

MANILA, Philippines -  Almost 200 children from 12 barangays bucked the heat and played parlor games during the “Larong Pinoy” event of the Mindanao Children’s Games in Davao City last Friday.

The Philippine Sports Commission-backed project drew almost a thousand children aged 12-years old and under with the event serving as a primary component of the PSC’s Sports for Peace program.

PSC chairman Butch Ramirez watched the children participate in the sack race, kadang and “maria went to town” games.

 “This is what the President has been telling us about, to see the children play and have fun, to afford them this educational leisure,”  said Ramirez, who focuses on establishing a sustainable grassroots program across the country through local government units. 

The event is an offshoot of these re-established partnerships between the PSC and the LGUs.  During the opening ceremonies of the Children’s Games, Ramirez cited the role of LGU partners in a successful sports environment in a city or province, saying “together we can accomplish a lot.”

Barangays Bantol, Baguio Proper and Indangan completed the kadang, sack race and MWT races, respectively, within the shortest time. Each team was composed of 10 members.

Mark Samante, the Davao organizing committee operations head and Philippine Sports Institute’s Davao coordinator, said  some barangays had around 20 players for Larong Pinoy so they decided to allow them to field two teams, considering only the top three best times. 

Samante explained that organizers did not want to disappoint the children who came expecting to join the games, so “we decided to allow everybody to join, anyway we only considered the shortest finish.  We wanted to boost their confidence in play which I think is one of the main objectives of the project.”