Boodle fight in kalaw

And kapitan kokak became one of the hundreds of spectators in the  annual Boodle fight was held last  September 30, 2011 at the Luneta Seafarers Welfare Foundation (LUSWELF) in Kalaw, Manila. This activity participated by an estimated  more than 2000 seafarers   is part of the National Maritime Week 2011.

 

 

The boodle fight is a military style of eating where long tables are prepared and food are on top of the banana leaves. Viands and rice ready to eat using your bare hands, jugs of water are prepared on the side to wash hands before the "eating combat". With the signal to start the boodle fight, everyone aims for his/her position.

The boodle fight menu for this year - boiled eggs, longanisa, lumpiang shanghai, adobong baboy, and rice.

a "boodle fight" is the Philippine Military jargon for a mess hall banquet where all the food are piled into one big tray in each table and every soldier, enlisted men and officer alike eat from that same tray with their hands as a symbol of camaraderie, brotherhood and equality in the Armed Forces. The "fight" part refers to the fact that it's everyman for himself during these feasts, this means you grab and eat as much as you can before the food runs out or else go hungry because everyone else is gorging away.

On July 17, 2008, then President Gloria M. Arroyo issued Proclamation No. 1560 declaring last Friday of September of every year as “National Maritime Day” , spearheaded by the government agencies , to wit : Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), Philippine Ports Authority (PPA)/ Cebu Ports Authority.

 Under Proclamation No.1049 issued in 1997 by then president Fidel V. Ramos,  the Apostleship of the Sea (AOS) was tasked to coordinate with the public and private sector in   activities related to the National Seafarers’ Day during the last Sunday of September every year.   

The kick-off of this years's National Maritime Week is the grand parade of the National Seafarers' Day (NfSD) last September 25, 2011 from LUSWELF to the Manila Cathedral participated by more than  five thousand stakeholders coming from the schools, government and private sector (organizations/ unions, manning agencies, training centers, etc).

This year's 16^th National Seafarers’ Day celebration fell on September 25, 2011, . with the  theme “Marinong Pilipino: Lakas ng Pagkakaisa!” It embodies the unified attitude of the Filipino Seafarers’ ideals, morals and cause.

"Sa inyong pagalalayag ay dala ninyo ang katangiang Pilipino - kasipagan, pagmamahal sa pamilya at paniniwala/ takot sa Diyos (In your journey you bring with you unique Filipino traits - reliableness, love of family and faith/ fear of God)", thus declared His Eminence Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, during the mass in celebration of the 16^th National Seafarers’ Day (NSD)  at the Manila Cathedral.

The homily of Cardinal Rosales centered on the significance of the seafaring profession both in the Philippine economy and the lives of the stakeholders. He stressed that more often than not, you can recognize a Filipino seafarer on board the vessel by looking into his cabin and the pictures posted in his wall - his family along with that of Jesus Christ, Mary or any other saint, signifying the source of  his strenghth amidst the hardships and challenges of his profession.

Per Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) data, there were 330,424 Filipino seafarers deployed abroad in 2009 comprising almost 30 percent of the global maritime labor force. Although the number of deployed Filipino seafarers has decreased from 2006 (274,497), 2007 (266,553) to 2008 (261,614), the dollar remittances have been constantly  increasing from US$1.9B in 2006, US$2.2B in 2007 , US$3B in 2008, US$3.4B in 2009 to US$3.8B in 2010.