The Batang Tagutlo para sa Bayan basketball games will be inaugurated on Monday, May 18 at Robinsons Dumaguete.
Sponsored by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Batang Tagutlo para sa Bayan will be held under the theme Bataang Isports Makabayan, using sports for youth formation imbued with the tree values of patriotism, pride, and peace.
According to Dr. Aparicio Mequi, director of the FU Institute of Youth Sports for Peace, the athletes who will be given the monicker of “patriots” will be act as youth ambassadors of patriotism, national pride and identity, and the quest for international respectability in the global sports community.
Tagutlo had its beginnings in the pioneering Visayan Girls & Women Tagutlo 3X3 Basketball Championship held in July 2014.
The event had two advocacies: a) to promote gender equity in Philippine sports and b) to raise public awareness regarding adolescent reproductive health. The Philippines is number one among ASEAN to have the greatest incidence of teen pregnancy. Partnering with the Department of Health local provincial and city governments, lectures and flyers were distributed to teenage girls who participated in the competitions.
The 3X3 basketball format was used, instead of the usual five-per team, as it is the same grassroots event of the Federation of International Basketball Associations.
Mequi said it is anticipated that NAA’s Kabataang Isports Makabayan will be an inspiring template for replication nationwide, with the support of the government and the private sector in promoting youth formation, and using sports as an engine for development, while promoting integration and peace in the context of the peace. (Febby Marton Rule)
