“Larolympics” was launched by Marikina City officials and Anak TV (an organization promoting child-friendly programming). It aims to promote indigenous children’s games to move their attention away from too much TV and Internet exposure and obsession. Featured games are piko, tumbang preso, and patintero.

Piko, one of Filipino Traditional games

Tumbang Preso, one of Filipino Traditional games

Patintero, one of Filipino Traditional games

Mayor Marids Fernando said at the launch of the project Friday at the Freedom Park in front of City Hall that these days, children are fond of watching TV and surfing the internet, so it’s a must to find ways to make them engage in physical activities.

She added that the wide influence of modern media make Filipino childhood games before tends to forget.
Anak TV said a fact that Filipino children post among the highest TV exposure in the world. By the time a Filipino child reaches 18, he would have spent about 30,000 hours watching TV and only 17,000 attending school.

The organization also stated a fact that Filipino children left by their parents or guardians in front of the TV do not grow just vertically but also horizontally. They are becoming more and more obese, and they are getting stricken with diabetes, heart disease … and other adult disease.

That is why, Larolympics hope to reignite Filipino children’s interest in our traditional games. The tournament shall be held in selected cities and towns around the country with the barangay or school winners competing in intercity and regional events in July. Under the tournament, there will be two divisions, the “chikiting” division for those aged 7-10, and the “bagets” division for those aged 11-14.