Monday, March 17, 2008 Tinago community workers bike their way toward clean living By Linette C. Ramos Sun.Star Staff Reporter
ON Sundays, police and firefighting uniforms, street cleaning tools and pushcarts take a back seat for some community workers in Barangay Tinago, Cebu City.
For a few hours, their “poor man’s” bikes take them to some biking trails 50 kilometers up north or down south, far enough to keep them feeling fit for the rest of the week.
SPO2 Maxim Lozano is one of the 30 members of Tinago Bikers who have cut down on smoking, while some have given up the early morning drinking binges in the barangay.
Instead of spending lazy Sundays at home, he and two barangay councilors hopped on their bikes one weekend last September and went around the city.
They are now joined by other barangay officials, personnel of the City Fire Department, street cleaners, porters from the nearby port area and tanods, all residents of Tinago.
The bikers assemble early morning every Sunday at the barangay hall to go to as far as Danao and Carcar City.
“Lingaw-lingaw ra man gyud to ang among tuyo pagsugod pero akong nabati na maayo man akong paminaw sa akong lawas. (It started as something we did for fun, but we also began to feel healthier),” Lozano told Sun.Star Cebu.
“It’s good exercise, and gives us the chance to do some sight-seeing, meet lots of people and help cut back on pollution,” he added in Cebuano.
Lozano, a member of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 base police, said their pastime has had a good influence on the bikers. Many have stopped drinking or smoking.
“Ako smoker gyud ko sa una pero karon dili na gyud kay wala man ta’y stamina ana, dili ta ka-bike og dugay (I’ve given up smoking because it robs me of stamina and keeps me from biking as long as I’d like),” he said.
Biking has also instilled discipline and friendship among the barangay officials and workers at the port area, who used to start their Sundays with bottles of beer on the sidewalks, Tinago Barangay Councilor Joel Garganera said.
Their weekend afternoons are now spent fixing and sprucing up their mountain bikes bought from surplus warehouses, just some of their activities that helped forge goodwill among Tinago officials and the port workers.
“It is not only a form of exercise for them, but it has also become a source of discipline and camaraderie. They have become safety and environment-conscious people and even if it has become a big group of bikers from different backgrounds, you can see that there is respect among all of them. Magtinabangay ug maghinatagay og bisag unsa, from spare parts to food,” the councilor said.
Tinago Bikers members have opened the club to bikers from nearby barangays like Lorega, and hope to bring in more soon.
Through their “poor man’s” bikes, the bikers hope to foster goodwill, friendship and discipline not only in Tinago but across other communities in the city as well. (LCR)
