When I was told that Negros Oriental/our City of Gentle People is the Motorcycle Capital of the Philippines–a fact which appears to be a source of pride among Negrenenses — I found myself asking, “What’s good about this when it could be a recipe for an unhealthy people and an unhealthy environment?
I became more alarmed about this situation when a study conducted in 2009 by FU physical education teacher Kathleen Dellona found that almost half of the entering freshman students at FU exhibited health risks due to being overweight or obese — a precursor to non-communicable lifestyle diseases such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and heart ailments.
Add to this the potentially- unhealthy effects of air pollution caused by too many motorcycles plying our roads, and I felt the urgent need to put in place a program that could serve as a countermeasure to these existing conditions in our UniTown.
Prior to the 2010 elections, I submitted to the FU Administrative Council a proposal making it mandatory for all students enrolled in PE classes to walk a quarter marathon (10.5km) as a requirement for passing the courses.
Some members of the Council expressed concern and doubts regarding the feasibility of implementing the proposal. There was a need to test the capability of those who are asked to walk the distance. How that test was carried out can be recalled in this news account (Visayan Daily Star, Feb. 15, 2010): Candidates join ‘wellness walk’. How healthy are our candidates? Many of them are fit to walk eight kilometers, from the town of Valencia to Robinson’s Mall in Dumaguete!
And maybe even beyond, as they didn’t look tired at all after the early morning walk Saturday, dubbed “We Walk (the talk).” The walk, actually named Wellness and Environment Walk, is a program of Foundation University in Dumaguete City to show public support for wellness and the environment.
All candidates for provincial positions, as well as mayoralty and council candidates for Dumaguete City and Valencia town, were invited to join the walk. Eventually joining the walk from among the candidates were Vice Gov. Jose “Petit” Baldado, Board Member Mariant Escano-Villegas, Dumaguete City Vice Mayor Woodrow Maquiling, Dumaguete City Administrator Dominador “Junny” Dumalag Jr. and Bayawan City Mayor German Sarana, who had to leave Bayawan City at 3 a.m. to get to Valencia town; Dumaguete City Councilors Alan Gel Cordova and Antonio “TonyRems” Remollo were also joined by other Liberal Party candidates Myrish Cadapan-Antonio, Lani Ramon, Joe Kenneth Arbas, Manny Arbon, and Dave Saceda.
All the candidates were asked to speak in an impromptu program after the walk, where they all extolled the virtues of exercise and of keeping fit.
The Provincial Police Office under Sr.Supt. Augusto Marquez also sent a platoon, along with students, faculty and staff from Negros Oriental State University, St. Paul University, and the Saceda Youth Lead High School, which saw a total of almost 2,000 participants.
To ensure the success of that event, a dry-run was held on Jan. 16th, but that fateful day in February 2010 will forever be etched in my memory. It marked the institutionalization of the Quarter Marathon Walk for Wellness & the Environment, a program of the FU Institute of Youth Sports for Peace (IYSPeace).
Six QMWWE have been staged so far with some 1,000 walkers joining, and FU spending about P15,000 for each staging. Clearly, there is a need for a sponsor to sustain it.
I learned this yaer that health and wellness of Filipinos is one of the major concerns of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Two health and wellness problems confront Filipinos today: a) a growing incidence of obesity where it is seen as the cause of almost 50 percent of deaths, and b) the need to mitigate climate change by reducing the carbon footprint for a cleaner atmosphere.
A simple and preventive strategy to counteract these twin problems is to create a walking culture with research studies supporting this claim in conjunction with a fundamental principle in current urban planning espousing the establishment of walkable communities and pedestrianization. The more people walk, the less they use their motor vehicles, the cleaner, fresher and more wholesome the environment.
Research shows that people living in walkable communities are healthier, weigh six to seven pounds less then those living in urban areas, and breathe cleaner, fresher air. Residents of walkable communities also tend to socialize more with one another, care more for each other, have a greater sense of community, thus, creating peaceful and crime-free localities.
Translating this information into a sponsorship proposal, we submitted to the PCSO a Walkers for Life program, and included a logo making use of the agency’s existing logo with the addition of walking footwear. We thought this should attract favorable response, and it certainly did.
With funding support from the PCSO, FU is committed to sustain the Quarter Marathon Walk for Wellness & the Environment until early next year.
Program participants will receive certificates as well as special PCSO “Walkers for Life” t-shirts. Those who will complete four quarter marathon walks will become members of the “Walkers for Life” association, a group of young people and adults who adopt and live the vigorous life of the global community of healthy people on a healthy Planet Earth.
