Torrential rains notwithstanding, the city of Iloilo went out in force at the La Paz Plaza to witness children and youth aged 7 to 14 pit brawn and cleverness in street games. It is probably the first time such pedestrian games were being given such prominence in the Western Visayan island.

No less than rival news anchors Mike Enriquez of GMA Network’s 24 Oras and Ted Failon of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol sacrificed waking up at dawn to fly south and regale the crowd with their rare presence. Rarer still is their stellar twinbill which only Anak TV could muster.

Mayor Jerry Treñas made certain that no stones were left unturned with the preparations. His unanswered prayer was that the sun would be out to celebrate with Iloilo’s well-off pupils
and indigent streetkids who are, like Failon and Enriquez, suddenly thrust together in centerstage for one project.

“If rains are blessings, the floods brought by the monsoons should spell abundance to our city,” whispered Mattie Octavio, the chief organizer for Iloilo’s Larolympics, when the rains were threatening to hamper the staging of the games.

There was the customary lighting of the torch done by youth leaders and the parade of teams from schools and barangays. The rituals and customary formalities over, the shortlisted teams started to focus on the job at hand, to win honors for themselves. To the adults, it was a chance to relive their childhoods. To media, it was a refreshing event to cover, so remotely different from politics, police incidents and show business.

Nowhere in the country had the simple games of patintero, tumbang preso and piko been so seriously and passionately played than in Iloilo.

There were 43 coaches officiating since Day One, each coach ensuring that the mechanics were fulfilled to the letter. The finals saw them officiating with true Olympian spirit and verve.

Even Iloilo sports officer and appointed gamesmaster Jojo Castro boned over the events and was engrossed at preparations for weeks. Castro is the type of official the country needs for sports development: thorough, concerned and focused.

HAVING A BLAST!

Kids and adults alike had a blast having their shirts autographed by Failon and Enriquez who also gamely posed for pictures. The flashfloods meanwhile trapped the poor city mayor in sudden little emergencies which he had to confront first before enjoying the games, the tragedy of last year’s typhoon Frank and its attendant floods still fresh in his mind.

What the staging of simple games like these meant to personalities like Failon and Enriquez is not merely the resuscitation of time-honored traditions but a chance to show TV audiences that in the arena of child welfare, TV network wars are set aside.

To Anak TV, it is a demonstration that simple maladies afflicting children like overconsumption of media can easily be licked if the entire village helps in raising them.

(If interested in the advocacy for family-friendly television, visit anaktvweb.com or email the foundation
at anaktv_seal@yahoo.com.)