The sun sets, leaving an orange hue in the sky, and as the day turns into night, you hear your mother call out, “Anak! Gumagabi na! Tama nayan at pumasok ka na sa bahay!”. But you pay no heed. The other team is one point higher than yours and you simply can’t end the game without gaining the upper hand. You’re the patotot and you feel the brunt of the responsibility to win upon your shoulders. The round starts and you break sweat. And then the running. The careful skirting past outstretched arms. “Taya!” you hear your teammates shout as one by one, your opponents tap out of the game. But one remains, more determined than the rest. He reaches the last line and dashes back towards the home base. He’s highly agile and your teammates fail to catch him. Soon, you cast all care and run…no, sprint as fast as you can to catch the persistent one. He’ll reach the line in 4…3…2…TAYA! Your hand catches him in time. You shout in bursts of joy and laughter, as well as your teammates. It was the ultimate experience.

This year, your wait to be able to experience the ultimate thrill of childhood once more ends as the UP Association of Business Administration Majors (UP ABAM) and Yabang Pinoy bring you Pinakamahabang Todo Patintero! Relive those moments of tense action and joy to bring them to the next level: a Patintero game that will be played not just by your team and another, but simultaneously by hundreds.

More than just fun

Organized by the UP ABAM Yabang Pinoy Team, Pinakamahabang Todo Patintero aims not only to foster camaraderie among the players but also raise their awareness and heighten their pride as a Filipino. The Yabang Pinoy movement is a nationwide one that aims to remind the Filipino to take heart and pride in their nationality. It does this through the abaca band which is a statement of one’s pride and dignity and various projects such as the annual Global Pinoy Bazaar and other events in major colleges and universities.

Patintero, also known as Tubigan, has been here in the Philippines since the time of the Spaniards. It is a street sport consisting of two teams with the goal of the offensive team to have all its members pass the defending team, and vice versa. It is a game that has generated much excitement in childhood and as such, has no reason to be loved once more by kids at heart. A Filipino game at heart, it shows the Filipino’s ingenuity for creating original innovative games found only in here and our intrinsic love for street sports.

Faster, higher, longer

As the sequel to 2009’s Pinakamahabang Todo Patintero, this year’s game will have players run faster, jump higher and overall beat the record for the longest patintero line in the world. If the last edition pitted 14 teams or a total of more than 90 players against each other, UP Diliman will pay witness to another groundbreaking record that will be set by a more than 150 fun-loving and proud Filipinos on February 20, 2011 from 3pm – 6pm in the afternoon at the UP Diliman Sunken Garden. It will definitely be something pinoys all over the world will be proud of.

So grab those fond memories of childhood and be ready to experience the thrill of patintero all over again! Just form a team of 5 – 7 members and log on to the official site at www.wix.com/ABAMYP1011/PATINTERO to fill out the official online registration form. Manual registration is also viable through visiting the UP ABAM tambayan at Room 408, College of Business Administration, UP Diliman. A fee of P100 per member will get you a limited edition gift pack from Todo Patintero 2011. Prizes await the most agile and crafty teams as P4,000 will be awarded to the winning team, P2,500 to the second placers, and P1,500 to the third.

May kakampi ka na ba? Nasaan ang patotot ninyo? Tara na’t balikan ang patintero na mas pinahaba at mas pinasayang Pinakamahabang Todo Patintero 2011!

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