Col. Jeff Tamayo Jr., head of the Philippine Olympic Committee Indigenous Games, leads the 10th year anniversary celebration of the of the POC-PSC Indigenous Peoples Tribal Games at the Sitio Target, Barangay Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Pampanga.
Tribal Games had given the Indigenous Peoples the rare opportunity to show off their sports prowess using the traditional sports equipment such as the bow and arrow (pana), spear (sibat) and blow pipe (sumpit) plus sturdiness in barefoot races.
Since the birth of the Peoples’ Indigenous Tribal Games in 2009 at the Picnic Grounds of Clark Field in Pampanga, the forefathers of our Katutubo—the Aetas, Mangyans and the Dumagats —had proven their athletic prowess in the local competitions as well as in the international arenas.
Through the support of the Philippine Olympic Committee, the Philippine Sports Commission, sports patron BGEN Dr. Antonio L. Tamayo of the University of Perpetual Help Systems DALTA and the lead agency Philippine Soft Tennis Association, Indigenous Peoples had represented the country in the 2010 Sabah Tribal Games in Malaysia; 2015 World IP Tribal Games in Tocantins, Brazil and was part of the organizing committee during the 2017 World IP in Canada.
Acknowledging its importance, the International Olympic Committee mandated the presence of the IP Tribal Games worldwide thru the IOC Agenda 21 Program.
The POC Indigenous Peoples committee is headed by its chairman and founding chief Col. Tamayo Jr., also the president of the PSTA and POC second vice president.