Cockfighting, one of the most loved “sport”of the Filipinos. Every Filipino is proud of his fighting cock....

Ating

the very friendly native people from Malapascua: Ince, Ramir, Oscar, Julietta (Oscars wife), Manuel, ?.

the very friendly native people from Malapascua Island

COCKFIGHTING: RP'S KING OF COUNTRYSIDE SPORTS!

     The crowd roared as a white rooster stood over a red and black bird and killed it with a blow from a razor-sharp blade strapped     to its leg. The referee held both roosters up. The white cock pecked twice at the red chicken's lifeless body and up in the stands, money changed hands.

     Cockfighting (Sabung)  is the king of sports in the Philippine countryside, with tens of thousands of cockpits scattered across the nation's     7,100 islands doing brisk business every Sunday.   "It's like a fiesta. It has to be the most popular sport in this country," said Freddie Yulo, a sugar planter in the town of Binalbagan on the central island of Negros. It was his white rooster, "Sunshine," which had won. It is the betting that that draws the crowds and the bets are made through intricate hand signals in the pentagon-shaped cockpit arena.

     In a four-cock derby, each participant fields four roosters. winning a fight earns 1 point and whoever has the most points at the     end of the day takes the grand prize, which reached a record P7 million ($254,500) in the central city of Cebu last year. "The betting is tremendous," said Felix Yusay, a hotel manager who breeds roosters part-time. The arena erupts in a cacophony as the audience begins placing bets on the next fight. Odds can swing quickly and the favored rooster can easily become the underdog.

     Outside the pit, the smell of greasy grilled chicken competed with smells from an open-air toilet. Roosters raised for kamikase-like courage are imported from the United States and bred to be heavily built around the wings while remaining light on their feet. They put cheese and apples in their dishes, said Yusay, adding some are fed better than the children of their owners.

     The formula to produce winning roosters is simple, he said. Good breed, good conditioning, good placing of knife. All that must     come together. A lot of people believe winners breed winners. In a tree-lined grove on the farm of congressman Mariano Yulo and his three brothers in near by Hinigaran town, tents stretched for nearly a mile (1.6 km) around which gamecocks stood at attention. Mariano Yulo is Freddie Yulo's uncle. The island of Negros, which takes pride in being the home of the country's sugar barons, is also the top breeding place for gamecocks. The top six breeders in the country all live on the island, said those involved in the fighting. This is the chicken center of the country, Yulo said, adding that each specially bred fighting cock can cost P3,000 to P5,000 ($110-$180).

     Mariano Yulo said he was introduced to cockfighting by a younger brother and is now an avid fan who loves the festive     atmosphere around the pit. "I have been in cockfighting for the past 25 years. This is excellent public exposure," he said of the     farmers and businessmen in the arena. He fidgeted during the first of his rooster's turn in the derby in Binalbagan. The cock was named MMY after his initials. It was  wounded early in the battle striking back in a flurry of feathers to kill the other rooster. "I thought for a while I would lose. I bet P2,000 ($72) on my rooster," he said with a laugh. One fan counted his remaining money closely for the long afternoon of fights still ahead. "I bet until the money runs out," he said.

Im Gegensatz zu Stadtkindern oder ganz besonders  im Gegensatz zu den Kindern in hochzivilisierten und hoch technisierten Ländern wie USA, Japan, Europa, Deutschland, leben die Kinder  hier auf den Inseln glücklich eingebunden in das Dorfleben zwischen Alltag und den rituellen Festen des Jahres. Mit ihrem Cebuano (oder Tagalog oder anderen Sprachen) Dialekt können sie alle Fische, Vögel und Pflanzen benennen, nur den lateinischen Namen wissen sie vielleicht nicht. Sie haben in den Dorfschulen oder in den Kirchen die alten Mythen und Sagen gehört, darin erkennen sie sich wieder. Auf dem Land bzw. auf den Inseln ist noch jede Entwicklungsstufe zu finden, von der Steinzeit bis zum 20.Jahrhundert. So kann es ihnen passieren, das sie eine Frau sehen, die mit einem Kohlebügeleisen (ja , ein Bügeleisen gefüllt mit heißer Kohle..) bügelt und gleichzeitig per Handy mit ihrer Freundin telefoniert und sich über die aktuellesten Fernsehserien unterhält.  Am meisten wird man von der Natürlichkeit der Kinder berührt und daran erinnert, daß der Mensch nicht nur aus seinem Fortschritt besteht.  So gingen wir vor einiger Zeit auf der Insel Malapascua durch den Palmenwald spazieren, als wir lustigen Kindergesang und Kinderlachen hörten. Auf dem  Pfad kamen uns 5 kleine Mädchen entgegen die man anhand ihrer rosefarbenen Röckchen und weisen Blusen als Schulkinder erkennen konnte. Sie waren nicht älter als 6-7 Jahre, hielten sich alle an der Hand und tanzten singend und lachend den ganzen Weg. Sie sangen die philippinische Nationalhymne (!).  Nein, keine Lehrerin begleitete die Kinder und gab den Ton an, die Mädels hatten Schulende und waren auf dem Weg nach Hause wie mir meine Begleiterin erklärte. Ich war perplex und berührt von der Natürlichkeit der Kinder. Sie begrüßten uns artig mit "Hello Joe, whats your Name" und gingen lachend weiter. Im Laufe der Zeit erlebte ich viele Beispiele dieser Art und versuchte dies auf meine eigene Heimat umzusetzen. Ich versuchte mir vorzustellen wie deutsche Kinder tanzend durch den Wald nach Hause laufen und dabei die deutsche Nationalhymne singen (:-((((.  Je mehr ich darüber nachdachte, umsomehr fing ich an dieses Land -die Philippinen-  und seine Bevölkerung zu bewundern.

Inseln der Seligen: Die flutende Wärme, die freundlichen Menschen, das warme klare Meereswasser, die Abkehr von den Zwängen des technischen Fortschritts, das Wellengemurmel in den zahlreichen Inselbuchten ergötzt den Fremden. Selig ist, wer solche Seligkeit sich leisten kann. Die Filipinos, so erfahre ich von den Filipinos, halten sich selbst für die "liebenswertesten Leute" der Welt. Eine Anmaßung ?; nein das glaube ich nicht, denn liebenswert, gewiß, das sind sie.

Urteil Besucherzitat: Die Philippinen bescheren die unterschiedlichsten Eindrücke, die vielerorts in der Dritten Welt längst ausgelöscht sind. Hier, höre ich, könne der aufmerksame Beobachter lernen, den Verlust zu ermessen, den die Industriealisierung anderwärts den alten Kulturen zugefügt habe.  Alle Landsleute die ich getroffen habe, reisen bedauernd ab. Jeder erklärt, daß er abreise, um zurückzukehren. Kein Kompliment könnte solche Liebeserklärungen übertreffen.

Contrary, to city children or quite particularly contrary to the children in high-civilized and highly technical countries such as the USA, Germany, Japan, Europe, the children live here on the islands lucky merged into the village life between everyday life and the ritual yearly celebrations.  With their Cebuano (or Tagalog or other languages) dialect, they can designate all fishes, birds and plants, only the latin names they perhaps dont know.  They heard the old myths and legends in the village schools or in the churches, detect themselves therein again.  On the country or on the islands still each stage is to be found, from the stone age to the 20-century.  So it can occur to you, that you see a woman, who irons with a coal iron (, an iron filled with hot coal.) and at the same time is phoning by Handy with its friend talking  about current TV serials converses.  At most one is touched by the naturalness of the children and reminded of the fact that humans consist not only of progress.  Sometime ago, as we went walking through the palm forest on the island Malapascua, we heard merry children singing and children laughter.  On the way we met 5 little girls who could be recognized at their pinkcolored skirt and white blouses as school children.  They were not older than 6-7 years, adhered all to the hand and danced singing and laughing the whole way.  They sang the Philippine national anthem (!). No, no teacher accompanied the children and gave the tone, they were on the way home, as my companion explained to me.  I was really touched by the naturalness of the children.  They welcomed us well-behaved with " Hello Joe, whats your name " and continued singing and laughing on the way home.  In the course of the time, I experienced many examples of this type and tried to compare this to my own homeland .  I tried to imagine myself to the idea, German children dancing in the forest on the way home and singing the German national anthem  (:-((((. The more I thought about it, all the more I caught to admire this country -the Philippines- and its population.

Islands of the blessed ones:  The flooding warmth, friendly humans, the warm clear sea water, the break with the obligations of the technical progress, wave murmurings in the numerous island bays amuses the other one.  Blessed is the one, who can afford such blessedness.  The Filipinos, as I heard from the Filipinos, regard themselves as " loveliest and friendliest people " of the world.  An arrogance?;  no I do not believe, because love-worth, certainly, they are. 

Visitors quotate:  the Philippines give the most different impressions, which are extinguished in many places in the third world.  Here, I hear, the attentive observer can learn, the loss to estimate, which the industrializing  caused elsewhere to the old cultures.  All compatriots who I met, leave regretting.  Everyone explains that it leaves, in order to return.  No radix complement could exceed such declarations of love