Miss Teenage Manitoba 2016 Denisse Samaniego opens the game..
Sungka? Tumbang preso? Patintero? Tatching? Yoyo? Labtik? Luksong Tinik? Juego de Anillo? Sipa-Sipa? “Holen”?
These are the games which occupied our minds and souls in the growing days in 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. We grew with it, probing that these indigenous games are akin to our rich cultural identity.
But with the advent of an advanced technology, the tv and video games took over, adding to the demise of our indigenous games. Or are these games have gone forever? I don’t think so!
In the 80’s during the time when we organized the Filipino Sports Federation led by Fred de Villa and yours truly, we did promote the indigenous games thru “Mga Palarong Pilipino”, a one day sport tournament of the Filipino games. Interest was so high. We got a special grant from the Provincial government to promote these games. Our mandate was to let the younger generations know that we have had the games played by Filipinos since time immemorial. But this group did not exist for a long time. It fizzled after personality conflicts among the Filipino leaders of a newly founded organization, leading to a natural death of the organization and this hampered our intention to promote these indigenous games. And now the Manitoba Council of Canadian Filipino Associations, Inc., led by Letty Duque Antonio, president of MaCCFA, has embarked to re-introduce the forgotten games, a rich Filipino cultural identity without any grant from the government.
On June 25, Saturday at the North Centennial Recreation and Activity Centre, MaCCFA, led by Ms.Antonio, the presidents; Rod E.Cantiveros, immediate past president; Julie Holland Javier, board member; and Clarita Nazario, vice president,Tony Antonio, treasurer; and Ben Ignacio, president of Bulacan Associaiton of Manitoba, the sponsoring member association, opened the 2nd year of the “Palarong Pilipino”. And MaCCFA is privileged to welcome Denisse Samaniego, Miss Teenage Manitoba 2016, to open the “Sungka Tournament” and the “Tumbang Preso led by Caring de la Cruz of OFSAM while Lorie Fernandez, another OFSAM officer, became the mentor of Denisse as she opened the “Sungka Tournament”.
“We are dedicated to promote “Palarong Pilipino” as part of the 118th Philippine Independence Celebration, to make sure that our indigenous games are still part and parcel of our rich cultural heritage,” Letty Duque Antonio says. “With this opportunity to promote and sustain our indigenous games, we would like that the young generations to learn and understand some of our rich cultural identities,” she adds.
After many round robin games, after all the excitements of who would be the champions, and after the last stones, Julie Javier and Tony Antonio won the championship beating Eli Mones and the youngest participant who came with his Mom & younger sister.
Photos by Rod Cantiveros | Filipino Journal
