Shyne Alexis Antonio, 40 years old and a mother of two from Lapu-Lapu City, complains that the children’s playground provided in the approved plans for the subdivision where her family lives has now been overtaken by parked vehicles.
The playground was one of the amenities that enticed Antonio and her husband to get a unit in the subdivision years ago. The young couple thought that it was a good community feature that would help them raise healthy and happy children.
But now, the playground attraction has turned into a distraction. Kids who still play in little nooks there are being called out by neighbors who fear that their parked cars might get dented or scratched.
Play is vital in children’s development. It supports the physical, social and mental progress of children, laying a strong foundation for their health, future learning and social interactions.
The Antonios’ lamentation is therefore well grounded.
And it doesn’t end there, unfortunately. Many young adults everywhere are finding themselves in the same situation.
Too often, we hear local government officials talk about grassroots-level sports development programs, emphasizing that young people must be afforded with athletic activities at the barangays to develop their potentials and divert their attention away from drug abuse.
But do we really have sports facilities in the barangays? Mostly none, sadly. The limited number of those that do exist such as basketball courts are usually in private subdivisions. And in recent years, this problem has been exacerbated by the rising number of overlapping vehicles that do not have proper parking areas.
No wonder, our youth often end up playing basketball or badminton in the middle of our roads.
Even barangay gymnasiums and basketball courts aren’t spared from this problem. A quick survey in Cebu City will show that almost all barangays do not have adequate parking areas for their own vehicles which usually take up space alongside private cars, sometimes even including public utility vehicles in local gymnasiums and basketball courts which are supposed to be sports venues for the youth.
All of these do not portend well for our youngster’s overall health and development. Data from the 2022 Philippine Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents released by the Active Healthy Kids Philippines (AHKP) indicate that only 15.4 percent of young Filipinos were sufficiently active, falling short of recommended guidelines.
This very low figure is a significant public health issue that need serious attention and intervention from authorities. According to the AHKP, the Philippines received a failing grade of “F” in the overall physical activity report card due to the low proportion of its sufficiently active youth.
Meanwhile, a 2024 Philippine Statistics Authority survey highlighted another concerning trend showing that 41 percent of first-time drug users in the country were between the ages of 15 and 19.
Among the top reasons teenagers abuse drugs are boredom, social isolation and the lack of community support programs designed to help them stay clean, such as sports.
Clearly therefore, this matter ought to be addressed by all concerned, starting with subdivisions and barangays that are supposed to have playgrounds, basketball courts and gymnasiums where children and young adults can engage in wholesome physical activities.
Let us park those vehicles somewhere else and give back to our young the spaces they need to play in and do sports.