Saturday, August 21, 2004
Bagobo horse fight attracts tourists
By Jenny Molbog-Mendoza
HUNDREDS of Dabawenyos and tourists trooped to SM City Grounds Friday to watch one of the highlights of the weeklong celebration of the 19th Kadayawan sa Dabaw -- the Bagobo horse fight, a famous Bagobo tradition where native stallions are made to compete for a chosen mare.
At around 9 a.m., this exciting indigenous horse competition started. The mare, named as Sansai, which was owned by Datu Emilio Aguan of the Bagobo tribe, was put inside the arena in order to trigger a fight between the two stallions.
But before the stallions were put inside the arena, they were scrubbed with soap and water first in order to wash away the poison that might have been applied on their skin.
According to one of the organizers, it was observed before that the stallions were applied with poison in order to defeat the opponent. Since then, scrubbing the stallions' skin with soap and water was required.
Digos City and Sta. Cruz, both in Davao del Sur, were the two opposing teams for the said competition.
Each fight was given five minutes, before declaring a winner. There were five fights in the one-on-one category (each with two rounds), wherein Digos City scored four out of five.
On the first fight, Araw-araw (Digos City), owned by Ito Naad, with a height of 53 inches and a body length of 60 inches, won over Tarso (Sta. Cruz), owned by Charlot Suniaga, with a height of 52 inches and a body length of 60 inches. During the fight, Tarso went out of the inner circle for more than five minutes, thus, causing his lost.
On the second fight, Massacre (Digos City), owned by Al Santiago, with a height of 48 inches and a body length of 56 inches, won over Waswas (Sta. Cruz), owned by Dodong Porras, with a height of 48 inches and with a body length of 55 inches.
On the third fight, Bin Laden (Digos City), won over Mideas (Sta. Cruz). During the fight, Mideas was biten by Bin Laden causing him to stay outside of the arena, which was the cause of his defeat.
On the fourth fight, the game was declared draw because Baksan (Digos City), owned by Edgar Imbodo, with a height of 50 inches and a body weight of 55 inches, and Kid Ryan (Sta.Cruz), owned by a certain Ryan, with a height of 50 inches and a body length of 56 inches, didn't actually have a fight. They just stayed outside of the arena the whole time.
On the fifth fight, Puti III (Digos City), owned by Ernesto Udas, with a height of 51 inches and a body length of 58 inches, won over Jack Balite (Sta.Cruz), owned by Toto Capunong, with a height of 51 inches and a body length of 57 inches. During the fight, Jack Balite stayed outside of the arena most of the time, thus, causing his lost.
Winners of the horsefight were awarded cash prizes (which was not revealed) and trophies, courtesy of SM City. Among the sponsors were Emperador Brandy, Air Philippines, Asia Brewery, Samsung, Smart Communications, Simeco, Hair Studio, Orange Grove Hote, and Home Radio 98.7. The chair of the Bagobo horsefight was Datu Max Gabao.
(August 21, 2004 issue)
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