Digital-savvy Baguio kids discover paper planes, parents’ outdoor games

SIPA BEATS GADGETS These young men learn to kick ‘sipa’ (lead washer) during the ‘Laro ng Lahi’ games staged on April 6 by a wellness and longevity movement that is trying to get children off their digital addictions. – VINCENT CABREZA

BAGUIO CITY—Baguio school children let go of their electronic devices this weekend to fly paper planes, play jump rope and kick the “sipa,” thanks to a local wellness movement.

“We’ve been encouraging them to move around instead of sitting all day with their TikTok and nonstop games on their [mobile] phones and laptops,” said Danilo Quinto, who organized the “Laro ng Lahi.”

The event on Saturday was part of this year’s Salun-at (Ilocano for Health) Wellness Festival, which Quinto first mobilized in 2022 when the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions began to ease.

Quinto, president of the Blue Zone Longevity and Wellness Movement, who is in his 70s, has been advocating healthy eating and exercising for the past four years to residents coping with the quarantine and its aftermath.

In 2021 and 2022, he posted a series of lectures on proper diets, exercises and a lifestyle shift, which were inspired by practices in “blue zones,” or regions of the world that have reduced chronic ailments and have statistically high life expectancy.

Quinto said his wellness advocacy perfectly suited Baguio’s original role as the first colonial hill station (or health sanctuary) put up in Asia by the American government when it governed the country.

Outdoor games

Last year, he organized a walkathon, with elderly participants completing a kilometer walk, families finishing 3 km walks, and individual hikers who signed up for 5 km walks. Quinto also organized a wellness summit and a wellness food fair towards the end of 2023.

Quinto said children need to discover outdoor games that were played before the world went digital.

READ: Baguio creates ‘living streets’

Mothers Jocelyn Balbuena, Justine Aranca and Marilyn Ritumalta sat at the bleachers of the University of Cordillera gymnasium on Saturday, where more than 20 students from two elementary and two high schools played outdoor games.

Their sons are enrolled in the Baguio SPED (Special Education) Center, where students used to play “sipa” in the 1990s and early 2000s before games graduated to more athletic activities like badminton, said Aranca, a SPED alumnus.

Sipa is a kicking game that was played as far back as the 15th century, according to some archival papers, and requires a “ball” made of rattan (now plastic) strips tied around a lead washer.

Paper planes

Although their sons spend most of their free time on their laptops and mobile phones, they quickly embraced the concept of flying paper planes and learning “sipa,” Arcana said.

But the internet actually helped the kids understand some of these games. “My son sought out tutorials on how to fold paper planes,” said Balbuena.

The children competed, trying to outdo each other’s record of keeping their “sipa” aloft and jumping rope. Some also flew paper planes.

Soraya Faculo, Baguio schools superintendent, said “Laro ng Lahi” could be incorporated in the Palarong Pambansa to make it sustainable, and may adapt certain games played by Cordillera children. —VINCENT CABREZA INQ