Barrio Fiesta in City High

THE air is filled with excitement, enjoyment, camaraderie and unity as Baguio City National High School (BCNHS), founded in 1916, celebrated its 93rd Foundation Day.

The students and teachers enjoyed all the friendly and sports competition activities such as search for Mr. and Miss Foundation, intramurals, hataw exhibition, street dancing and yell showdown.

Students develop their skills in streetdancing with colorful ornamented costumes, coordinated steps as they perform in a parade from Casa Vallejo to the athletic bowl.

Students’ develop their creativity in performing their three-minute yell arrange into 13 categories representing the four year levels of BCNHS and its nine annexes, namely: Bakakeng, Doña Aurora, Fort del Pilar, Happy Hallow, Hillside, Lindawan, Rizal, Santo Tomas, and San Vicente Annex.

The teachers showed their difficult aerobics movements and creative exercises combined with dancing prowess, as they all demo in a hataw exhibition at the grounds of the Athletic Bowl.

One of the most exciting parts of the celebration is bringing the barrio fiesta in the school. The teachers showed their skills and tried to win joining the games such as palo-sebo, breaking the pot, tug of war and limbo rock.

The most popular game “palo-sebo or the lard hobbly” was used to be an athletic training technique, which later evolved into a native community pastime where a tall bamboo standing in the middle of an open air is lavished with a lard or oil from top to bottom, a small flag or plastic is placed on top where contestants climb the pole.

The event organizers spread oil on the bamboo poles, and this makes it more exciting to climb the pole. Male teachers representing their teams and annexes repeatedly climb the pole and had a hard time climbing the tall bamboo. The lone survivors were the pair from the first level with a difficult stunt made their way climbing up and took the plastic down and emerge as winners.

The teachers’ skill in moving and running fast were tested in one of the very exciting game the habulan ng “manok” instead of a pig. All male and female teacher contestants chased the chicken being set loose in the confined area. Some of the contestants fell in catching the chicken but it’s worth enjoying the game.

The teachers get noisy in the entertainment game hitting the hanging earthen pot or “palayok.” It is a game where a small earthen pot is hung through a net in the middle of a wide open space. The teachers were blind folded and given a small wooden bat, finding their way to the pot and hit it solid to break it. All the contestants enjoyed hitting the hanging pot and made to dangle from a challenging strike.

Another game that made it more exciting among the teachers was the “tug of war.” This game managed to bring out the strength and team work of the teachers. A rope was provided and a mark was placed at the center of the rope, where contestants have to pull at the same time flinging the ropes downward. The teachers tried their best to pull hard as not to step beyond the center line marking on the ground, otherwise they get defeated when they went off the marking line.

Teachers’ remarkable flexibility came out as they had real fun in playing the limbo rock. All the female contestants with the rhythm of the gangsa music formed a line and, in turn they attempted to pass under the big thin stick. After everyone passed under the stick, the stick is lowered and the process repeats. This game originated in the Caribbean.

The awaited part of the celebration was the “gangsa” entertainment competition where a group of five or six teachers perform rhythms to accompany dancers. The teachers demonstrated how their hands beat the gongs producing exciting beats that made all of us dance.

A time to reconnect, enjoy each other’s company and to have great fun were all experienced by the teachers and students in this year’s foundation day.

Congratulations to all the overall winners: third place - freshmen/first year; second place - sophomores/second year; and champion – fourth year/seniors.

To all the organizers of these events, the school principal Dr. Elma D. Donaal, the BCNHS-EA officers headed by Ms. Wilma Tadije, the PTA headed by Julius Kitong, BCNHS head Teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Basawil of Lizardo Bus Inc., barangay captain Alfredo Cong-o, Atty. Benny O. Bomogao, our judges Benj Cruz, Bruce Limmayog, Marivier Agayas, Ms. Baguio Kimberly Penchon, Ms. Maria Aplaten, the committee of Pol Colingan, Janice Awas, Carmencita Zuñiga, Jonathan dela Cruz, the T.L.E /Mapeh dept., Cepmo, BCPO, City Government of Baguio, our guests and to everyone who in one way or another made this event a success. Thank you so much.