Thunderous cheers and jeers fill the air. There’s non-stop shouting and laughter. Women and children watch with bated breath.

There is a cruel noonday sun above this muddy patch of land here in the middle of San Agustin, Bulacan, a fishing community in the northern part of Manila, the Philippine capital.

Young men, half-naked, sun-roasted and all covered with sweat and grease are pitted against each other in a different kind of race.

It isn’t a marathon or a hundred meter dash.

The men, with their bare hands are struggling with all their might to climb up two bamboo poles – straight, long, wobbly and heavily greased to make it slippery and difficult to climb.

The poles stand majestically tall and looking at its tip from the dry earth, the poles seem to be reaching the high heavens.

This age-old Filipino game is called Palosebo, from the Spanish words greased stick. It has been a tradition for hundreds of years now, having been bequeathed to the Philippines by the Spaniards.

It is usually played by young men during a town fiesta or feasts of patron saints in the predominantly Catholic country.

The game is for two or ten more players and the contestants try to climb the poles. Whoever is the first to grab a small flag on top wins the race.

But is it almost impossible as the poles are smooth and heavily greased.

This morning, the young men are competing for a thousand pesos or roughly 20 dollars.

Because it is almost impossible to do it alone, men usually form teams and they climb up each other’s shoulders to reach the top. The man on the uppermost position tries to wipe off the grease, which only happens after another team player from down below throws him a dry cloth.

He couldn’t carry the dry cloth while going up because he would need all four hands and feet in his struggle to the top.

Laborious, indeed.

And this is why on this hot, humid morning, 77-year old During Hernandez fights back tears.

With a small rainbow colored umbrella on one hand, During, is almost frozen as she watches the race.

She holds her breath. She squints her already tired eyes to avoid the piercing glare of the sun as she looks up above to watch her grandson, 16-year old Ace, climb up the pole.

“I can’t help but cry. It’s so hard to earn money but we need the money to buy rice,” says During.

Arturo Laquindanun, the 43-year old “gamemaster” says that in this poverty-stricken fishing village, the young men don’t mind the difficult game because it’s worth the extra cash.

“It’s also a lot of fun,” says Arturo who has spent most of his life in the village.

Besides, he says, the game happens only once a year when the community celebrates the feast of its patron saint, St. Agustin.

It is part of a grand celebration that includes a grand parade around the village. Arturo is the one assigned by the village chief to monitor the game. Whoever wins will be given a cash prize from the village chief. 

I say goodbye to During.

She is still watching her grandson struggle to the top. He helplessly slips down to the group, his butt landing hard on the muddy earth. His teammates laugh off the momentary defeat. Then they climb up again, one by one, on each other’s shoulders.

It is time for me to head back to the capital to finish an assignment for the newspaper I work for. I’ll have no way of knowing who won the game.

But Arturo says everybody has a chance of winning in this small community. The game will go one the whole day.

“If not this year, then there will be other years. It happens every year,” he says.

The important part is, whoever wins will have some extra cash to bring home to his family and still have some left to celebrate with friends.

“It’s tradition. It’s a lot of fun. More importantly, it’s a lot of help, too in these difficult times,” says Arturo.