The City Government of Davao, through the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor’s Office (SDD-CMO), received from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) over 400 sets of school supplies and other merchandise intended for the indigenous people (IP) communities in Davao City on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
Dabawenyo PSC Commissioner Charles Raymond A. Maxey turned over 450 pieces of native tinalak backpacks, 200 pieces of abaca shoulder bags, 400 t-shirts, 200 pieces of bamboo notebooks, 200 pieces of bamboo ballpens, 200 pieces of customized towels, and three pieces of agong to Indigenous People’s Mandatory Representative (IPMR) of the Sangguniang Panlungsod Councilor Peg-Buyyahon Rodolfo M. Mande.
SDD-CMO representative Cindy Cruz was also present during the turnover at the PSC Mindanao Office in Juna Subdivision, Matina, Davao City.
Commissioner Maxey said, “Part man gud ni sa program sa PSC nga sports for all kay ang directive ni President Rodrigo Duterte is to make sports available for every Filipino. Since 2016 naa mi gibuhat nga IP Games sa lain-laing lugar but since naigo ta ug pandemic naundang kini (This is part of the PSC’s sports for all program because the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte is to make sports available for every Filipino. Since 2016 we have been conducting the IP Games in different places but due to the pandemic it was halted).”
Hence, the PSC decided that part of the IP Games budget will be used to purchase school supplies for the IP youth instead.
“Dako among pasalamat sa city for honoring our intent na mabuhat ni karong hapuna (We thank the City Government of Davao for honoring our intent to make this turnover of supplies happen),” Maxey told the Byaheng DO30 team in an interview, adding that Davao City has rich culture and traditions with its 11 IP tribes. All these, according to him, must be preserved for the future generations of Dabawenyo IP.
The commissioner recalled that in 2014 when PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez was the Davao City sports chief and he was among the SDD-CMO staff, they launched the tribal games. He’s happy that the current city administration through the SDD-CMO also continued the program where indigenous games were played by different tribal groups.
Maxey added, “Nagapasalamat ko sa atong mga tribal leaders na mudawat aning mga items, unta makatabang kani sa ilang komunidad. Of course, pasalamat pud ko sa city government ubos kay Mayor Inday Sara sa pagdawat namo diri. Kabalo man mi nga very rich ang kultura sa IP community. Hopefully, malipay ang atong mga IP communities sa gamay nga hinabang sa national government through the PSC (I thank the tribal leaders who will receive these items, I hope these will help their communities. Of course, I also thank the city government under Mayor Inday Sara Duterte for accepting us here. We know how rich the culture of the IP community in the city is. Hopefully, the IP communities will be happy with this little help from the national government through the PSC).”
Councilor Mande of the Matigsalug Tribe, for his part, said the donated items will be a great help to the Klata, Matigsalug, and Ovu-Manovu tribes, especially the youth.
“Kini nga mga items nadawat karon ihatag namo sa mga scholars sa tribu, duna’y 200 kapin nga mga scholars sa tribu naa sa nagkalain-laing mga unibersidad sa Davao (These items will be distributed to the tribes’ scholars as we have over 200 student scholars in different universities in Davao City),” he added.
From Davao City, Commissioner Maxey will also turnover school supplies in Talaingod, Davao del Norte; Cebu, and Benguet. CIO
