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Dragon boat competition to highlight Butuan’s 2018 Balangay Festival

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Erwin M. Mascariñas

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/sports/05/09/dragon-boat-2018-2018-050918.jpg"/><figcaption>The Bugsay Mindanao: Paddle for Peace dragon-boat competition will be one of the highlights during the annual Balangay Festival celebration for 2018 (dubbed Bugsay Balangay), with 13 teams from all over the country competing in Butuan City on Friday. Erwin Mascariñas, ABS-CBN News</figcaption></figure></div>Cagayan de Oro City—On its fifth year, the Bugsay Mindanao: Paddle for Peace dragon boat competition will be one of the highlights of the annual Balangay Festival celebration for 2018 (dubbed Bugsay Balangay), with 13 teams from all over the country competing in Butuan City on Friday.Father Saturnino Urios University (FSUU) vice president Rev. Fr. Chito “Kits” Butardo came up with the idea of forming Caraga Region’s first dragon-boat team in July 2012.“This year, the city of Butuan through the city sports committee has embraced Bugsay Balangay, BM5: Paddle for Peace as an official event of this year’s Balangay Festival celebration in cooperation with FSUU. This is a very apt event as Balangay is a celebration of our roots as paddlers in the past symbolized by the Balangay boat finds,” Butardo said.He pointed out that, “the conceptualization of a watersport along the Agusan River was meant to push for the campaign in raising people’s support in the drive to promote awareness on the preservation of Agusan River, the country’s third-largest water basin.”“From a very few teams in 2012, now we have more than two dozen teams paddling in different bodies of water all over Mindanao,” Butardo said.“Slowly it has become a mainstream sport in Mindanao. There are still emerging teams that will come to fore in the coming years. This is a positive development as we all advocate for the protection of our waterways, which are threatened because of the abuses, and irresponsibility of some people.”He added: “the Balangay boat finds connect us to our own historical pride, and paddling through dragon-boating intensifies our sense of identity as a people endowed with the mighty Agusan River and the river basins of Mindanao. “This sport continually reminds us to care for our waterways. Agusan River tells stories of how we as a people are connected by this body of water. “With the local government embracing this sport, we foresee the communities by the bank of the river to be enticed to go into these sports. Agusan River can be the playground of communities.”According to the event secretariat, about 13 teams from different parts of the country will be arriving and will compete on Friday, at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) grounds along the Agusan River in Butuan City.Cromwell P. Nortega, council member and chairman of the city sports committee, said: “The city government, through the leadership of our mayor Engineer Ronnie Vicente C. Lagnada, pushes its unwavering support for this year&#x27;s Bugsay Mindanao: Paddle for Peace in the hopes of bringing more color to this year&#x27;s Balangay Festival to promote Butuan&#x27;s tourism attractiveness and showcase the competitiveness among Butuanons in the said field of sports. “As Bugsay Mindanao is dubbed Paddle for Peace, this is also to show the city&#x27;s commitment to peace for our region and for the world.”(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.)

The Bugsay Mindanao: Paddle for Peace will be one of the highlights of the Balangay Festival, with 13 teams from all over the country competing in Butuan City on Friday.

The Bugsay Mindanao: Paddle for Peace will be one of the highlights of the Balangay Festival, with 13 teams from all over the country competing in Butuan City on Friday.