FILIPINO ethnic games such as “kadang-kadang” (stilts), “tumbang preso,” and “patintero” take the spotlight today in the “Palaro ng Lahi” before the Palarong Pambansa goes full blast tomorrow in various venues within and around Cebu City.
Department of Education officials said showcasing the ethnic games, which were popular with Pinoy kids and made them physically active in a bygone era until the advent of video games on mobile phones and computers, is meant to preserve their heritage and renew an appreciation for them among the new generation.
The games of indigenous peoples nationwide serve as a respite before hostilities in the sportsfest for the country’s high school and elementary athletes unfold, with the centerpiece sports of swimming and athletics to be held at the newly-renovated Cebu City Sports Center.
The country’s top sportsman, President Marcos Jr., formally opened the Palaro yesterday during the well-attended and colorful inaugural ceremony that drew over 12,000 athletes and officials from the country’s 17 regions.
“The Palarong [Pambansa] stands as the country’s pinnacle of national sporting events. Today, we continue this important legacy, celebrating not just the games but also celebrating the unity, the camaraderie, and the national pride that these games inspire. This event is more than just an inter-school [and] inter-regional competition; it is also a platform where we discover, where we develop, and hone future professional athletes, Olympians, and servant-leaders,” Marcos told the athletes and officials participating in the games.
Also present during the festive curtain-raiser for the meet supported by the Philippine Sports Commission and Sen. Bong Go, Senate Sports Committee chairman; were Vice President and former Education Secretary Sara Duterte, Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia and Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia.
Vice President and outgoing Education Secretary Sara Duterte was a no-show.
A statement was uploaded in the Vice President’s Facebook account hours before the event opened where she recognized the Palarong Pambansa as a tradition implemented by the DepEd, which has the role of honing the talents of students and preparing them for big challenges in life.
DepEd spokesman Michael Poa, in a message to media, said while the Vice President “did not attend the opening,” she had visited the Palaro athletes who had been hospitalized before the event.