Move over, traditional sports. The old, Filipino street games of one’s younger days may be a bit more fun than the usual sports inherited from the country’s former colonizers.
This was the gist of the Development Academy of the Philippines’ Larong Pinoy Olympics 2015, the government think tank’s sportsfest that marked its 42nd anniversary recently.
Instead of the Western sports events like basketball and volleyball that are usually played in corporate sportsfests, the DAP for a change decided to hold games that DAP President Antonio Kalaw said would “allow us to have fun working together with our fellow DAPpers from other centers or offices” as the Academy’s personnel played indigenous games like patintero, tumbang preso, luksong lubid, sipang bilangan and other Pinoy games.
At the end of the activity, the Green team emerged as overall champion, with the Yellow squad finishing runner-up and the Red and Blue teams placing third and fourth, in that order. The Blue team, however, earned the bragging rights in the cheering competition by taking the top prize in the event.
The four teams were grouped in a mix of staff members and officers from the different groups, centers and offices to allow intergroup or center interaction among DAP personnel based in Pasig. The event, which also served as a team-building exercise for the employees, was described by Kalaw as a preparation of sorts for the “daunting” work ahead.
“This year, we will face bigger challenges in connection with our recognition as Center for Excellence for Public Sector Productivity in Asia and the Pacific ,” Kalaw said.
“Indeed, the work ahead is daunting, thus, we want to strengthen the relationships among the different academy units before we all buckle down to work. We need to strengthen the collaborative and harmonious working atmosphere for the different groups or units as we all work as one DAP team towards the attainment of our goal of becoming an internationally-recognized institution producing topnotch public managers as well as innovative and strategic research in public sector effectivity and enhancing national productivity.”
A similar event is due to be held for the DAP’s personnel in Tagaytay on August 1, and judging by the turnout of the first edition, it also promises to be a lot of fun.