PASIG CITY, Philippines — High school and college students from across the Philippines unfolded at the Mall of Asia bayside a 173.65-meter cloth containing messages of gratitude for teachers.
This is the Philippines attempt to win an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.
The banner is set to break China’s current record for the longest thank you banner for teachers at 100 meters unfolded at Fuyang Square.
The Philippines also attempts to set the record for the most number of thank you messages addressed to teachers, said Michaela Muñoz, chairperson of the educational leadership and management department of De La Salle University.
DLSU is assigned to submit to the Guinness body the measurement and count the total number of messages written in the sewn cloth banner. At present, the number of messages is estimated to average at 150 to 200 per 10-meter cloth.
TAGUIG City, Philippines — Stacking a dozen plastic cups might sound like a parlor game played during children’s parties but some kids get to play it as a sport. In fact, a sibling of three Filipino kids showed that stacking can be serious fun.
The Purugganan brothers Andrew, 16, Brian, 12, and Steven, 11, have been playing and breaking records in this relatively unheard of speed stacking contest. They and their proud parents Danilo and Victoria Purugganan are in the Philippines as participants in the the Passion Rush at the Bonifacio Global City.
As the name implies, sport stacking requires players to stack up to 12 cups in a pyramid. While some people would take over a minute to stack up all 12 cups without them falling, these boys can stack the cups in threes, six, and dozen consecutively in less than 10 seconds.
There are four basic categories in competition level speed stacking. These are the 3-3-3 wherein the player has to stack nine cups in threes then nest them back; the 3-6-3 is with 12 cups where the goal is to stack three sets of cups in threes, six and another threes; and the 1-10-1 also using 12 cups.
The fourth category is the cycle stack, where the player is required to cycle through the three other categories. A fifth category is the doubles with two players doing a cycle stack with one hand each.
The youngest of the Purugganans Steven is currently the world record holder for three categories: 3-3-3 that he completed in 1.86 seconds; the 3-6-3 category in 2.34 seconds and cycle stack category at 6.21 seconds. He broke the 3-3-3 and cycle stack records at the recently held World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver, Colorado.
Steven and his brother Andrew also held the doubles championship title with 7.84 seconds, which they got at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships in Delaware. This was broken by Germans Timo Reuhl and David Wolf with a very close 7.65 seconds during the 2008 World Sport Stacking Championships.
Their mother Victoria said the boys only started playing less than two years ago after watching the competition on TV.
“They got interested in it so we bought them cups that they could play,” she said, noting that they first joined the New York State Championships in October 2007 and from thereon, they’ve been breaking records.
And like all athletes, Victoria said her children do some exercises before joining any competition, such as push ups and jogging. Even when they are not practicing, which she said is a lot, the boys still get to do other activities, such as playing other sports like basketball, swimming, baseball and soccer.
Victoria said she is proud to let her kids compete in a sport they love while still having fun. She hopes that her kids will pursue the things they like and be successful at it.
MANILA, Philippines–In business, it pays to go green, to embrace one’s roots, and to engage small communities.
Ask the owner of Binalot, a fast-food chain famous for its low-budget Pinoy meals wrapped in banana leaves harvested in a poor farmers’ community in Laguna, a neighboring province of Metro Manila.
As it continues to make good business through its 35 outlets, mostly inside malls in Metro Manila, the young company is starting to gain international recognition.
MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine Madrigal Singers won the prestigious European Grand Prix for Choral Singing Sunday night (Monday morning, Manila time) in Arezzo, Italy.
The Madz, as the choir is popularly known, is the first and only choir to win twice in what is known as the choral Olympics of the world.
It won the European Choral Grand Prix (GPE) for the first time in June 1997 when the Madrigals represented the Tolosa Competition, the first and only Philippine choir to win this competition.
CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines–Bulacan residents and officials hailed an 11-year-old girl from this city who topped the junior division in the World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held on July 31 to August 3 in California.
Aria Daniella Clemente, who arrived here last week, was proclaimed grand champion in the WCOPA junior division after besting 5,000 contestants from 52 countries.
Clemente, a Grade 6 pupil of Stella Maris Academy of Malolos, also bagged the “Performer of the World” award in the junior category after she beat winners in other categories.
Being Filipino, the INQUIRER.net blog that celebrates the lives and achievements of Filipinos all over the world. Manila-based INQUIRER.net is the online home of the Philippine Daily Inquirer group of publications.
