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🎧 On A Water Break: Around the World β€” Color Guard in the Philippines image

🎧 On A Water Break: Around the World β€” Color Guard in the Philippines

On A Water Break
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This week, On A Water Break: Around the World takes us to the Philippines, where host Grantis Peranda sits down with percussionist, educator, and visionary leader Patricia Real Barairo, founder of the Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines (CGAP).

Patricia shares her journey from her early days in Quezon City’s drum & lyre scene to building a nationwide network of performers, directors, and choreographers that are redefining what color guard looks like in Southeast Asia.

Host: Grantis Peranda (@grantisimo_p)

Guest: Patricia Real Barairo (@colorguardphilippines)

In this episode:
– what drum & lyre means in the Philippines
– how Patricia transitioned from percussion to pageantry
– founding CGAP and performing at WGI Asia
– traveling across 7,000 islands for competitions
– the rise of Camp Spin, Spin Fest, and color guard battles
– launching WMBO: the World Marching Band Organization
– how color guard is becoming part of Filipino festivals, TV, and weddings

CGAP turns 10 in 2025, and Patricia has big plans: concerts, workshops, competitions, an equipment expo, and international appearances in Thailand, Malaysia, and beyond.

πŸ’¬ β€œMarching band is part of every celebration in the Philippines β€” even funerals. It’s tradition, it’s culture, it’s life.” – Patricia Real Barairo

β€”

πŸ“² follow our guest:
@colorguardphilippines on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook

πŸ“² follow our host:
@grantisimo_p | grantisimoproductions.com

🎧 subscribe to on a water break on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEIZAjFybvq_AzpFUXvNJDQ
or listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts

πŸ”— want to be a guest?
https://forms.gle/7GcpYZLfY8Uo54pp9

β€”

✨ this episode is sponsored by:
Guard Closet – guardcloset.com | @guardcloset
Peak Group Travel – peakgrouptravel.com | @peakgrouptravel

β€”

#onawaterbreak #colorguardphilippines #CGAP #WGIAsia #WMBO #marchingarts #drumandlyre #campspin #spinfest #globalguard #filipinopride #aroundtheworld

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Transcript

Introduction to 'On a Water Break'

00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone and welcome to on a water break the podcast where we talk about everything you and your friends are talking about at rehearsal on a water break this week we go on a water break around the world with our second stop the Philippines.
00:00:16
Speaker
Hi, I'm Grantis. I spent a year and a half traveling the world, experiencing different cultures, and discovering how marching arts take shape in each of them. Now, I'm bringing those stories to you.
00:00:28
Speaker
Join me as I talk to people from across the globe to learn how they celebrate and evolve our activity in their own unique way. This is A Water Break Around The World.
00:00:40
Speaker
Hi everyone, I'm Grantees Paranda and we are having the second on a water break around the world today. Since it's our second rep at this, we are figuring things out and we might be a bit shaky.
00:00:52
Speaker
So it still ain't gonna be clean. I hope you understand and continue with the process. Now onto the show.

Patricia's Journey into Marching Arts

00:01:01
Speaker
I'm super excited to welcome Patricia real borrow for our podcast i'm sorry i butchered that last name um and she is representing color guard in the philippines but i'll let patricia tell us about herself all right you have 32 counts and only 32 counts to tell us everything about your life and you will get eight counts off the met when you start are you ready i'm ready let's do this all righty here we go
00:01:31
Speaker
Okay, hello everyone, mabuhay! am Patricia Riel Barairo from the Philippines. I am the founder and director of Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines. I'm also the vice president of Asian Marching Band Confederation and a founding director of World Marching Band Organization.
00:01:45
Speaker
I'm excited, although I'm a percussion player, I have this keen passion for visual arts and marching arts. That's why i started the Color Guard Philippines. And very passionate and a big dreamer and a believer of the opportunities that we have in Philippine marching band. That's why, like you, I'm this passionate and excited about this podcast.
00:02:07
Speaker
Yay! Did I do great? that You did fantastic! On time. that's Yes, you did fantastic. I think, especially as a percussionist, you're ready ready to go right away.
00:02:19
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. yes oh my gosh So welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for being here. ah really appreciate it. And all of our listeners really appreciate it as well.
00:02:30
Speaker
um So let's start from the beginning. I want to get to know more about you and and our audience wants to know more about you. But you said you started as a percussionist. like Tell us how you got into marching band. What was that like?
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, so ah a lot of misconception because I usually associated with SIGAP, Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines. So they thought, oh, she might be a color guard. But actually, I started as percussion player. and I still am, although not practicing to perform anymore.
00:03:02
Speaker
But it started in during my elementary days. I joined ah my school band. ah Project 6 Heatwave, Drum and Lair Corps, I'm very grateful that I started with that band because, you know, I i am based in Quezon City.
00:03:19
Speaker
Quezon City is like one of the the largest city with marching band activity, basically with Drum

Cultural Influences on Philippine Marching Arts

00:03:28
Speaker
and Lair Corps. I'm not sure if you're familiar with that, but in in here in the Philippines, we mostly have Drum and Lair Corps. more than the Philippine, like the marching band or the usual brass band um format.
00:03:41
Speaker
Because I believe also it's more economical to oh to form or to to create because the instrument is much cheaper. you know we have i think it's called Drum and Bell Corps in your country.
00:03:56
Speaker
So here it's the largest, I believe the largest community that we have is Drum and Lair. So I started with that in Drum and Lair. And like I mentioned, I'm very grateful that I started in that core because my band director already have some influences of DCI, WGI, and he has been also involved in like some of the pioneer bands in the Philippines. So my upbringing into marching band is kind of, like I would say, much more wider or advanced than other bands.
00:04:33
Speaker
ah batchmates that I have. how Why did I say that? Because sometimes we would um prepare for competition, we will have this repertoire. For example, we had Phantom of the Opera.
00:04:45
Speaker
So I thought like everyone will have that same background. like Everyone would be playing Phantom of the offer Opera or something like ah music pieces from BCI. But then when we go out ah for a competition,
00:05:00
Speaker
we would see our ah opponents like playing like more of a traditional music piece in the Philippines. Their drill design is not much as challenging as we have. Although we are a small um school band competition, but the name of that school in terms of the drum and lyre community got somehow, you know um if modesty aside, I would say famous because they would always like,
00:05:31
Speaker
see us like some some someone like um a marching band who have a different style, like a modern style of marching band. So with that exposure, um I got to dream bigger.
00:05:46
Speaker
Like my initial um my initial exposure to marching band is already Santa Clara Vanguard, Blue Devils, Phantom Regiment, you know, those core Cavaliers Cadets.
00:05:58
Speaker
So that's already my influence in in my elementary days. so So like having that as a big influence to me, um I was able to dream that, okay, someday Philippines will have this international connection ah we'll have that kind of level that what we what we watch on VHS that time, we don't have YouTube.

Education and Opportunities in Marching Arts

00:06:21
Speaker
So that's where I started. and like i would say it's fortunate because, some of i like I mentioned, some of the the other bands that I would see, they don't have idea about TCI until like when they're in college or they were already exposed because talking to other people where I thought,
00:06:43
Speaker
during my elementary days that everyone have the knowledge of that. So that's where I started. And then I moved into a high school band. I specifically um choose chose to enroll into this school just because they have a marching band like a drum and laryon. Oh, I know how that is. I've i've done that too. just Just because they have a program, I'm going to go to this school.
00:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, okay, ah my best friend who's also marched with me during elementary days said to me, oh, they have a drum and lyre here. So let's join this. ah But that time, the band director ah is about to change.
00:07:24
Speaker
And luckily, the new band director is a famous person in the Philippine drum and lyre because he's the one who founded the first organization of Philippine Drum and Lair.
00:07:35
Speaker
And he has a big influence to a lot of people and eventually became like a father figure to me in terms of my marching band career. So in in my high school, um what I believe developed on me is leadership.
00:07:50
Speaker
with his own guidance, Sir Manin. My director and elementary is Sir Perry. So with those two, Sir Perry's style, big influence with international, coming to Sir Manin's guidance of leadership and how he is so passionate when it comes to bringing everyone together, like that's why he created the Drum and Larkor Association of the Philippines Incorporated, or what we call DLKAPI.
00:08:18
Speaker
So that's one of like, if anyone from the DLKAPI era would be hearing me, with it would feel them like a nostalgic feeling of hearing that um organization name. So I was able to have a lot of um practice in in my high school days on leadership.
00:08:36
Speaker
Hence, towards my dream of creating my own organization, the CCAP, Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines. And basically, that's it. When I went to college, to university. I was able to get a full scholarship on march because of marching band as well.
00:08:53
Speaker
Oh, you could get a scholarship. Yeah. I went to Fiat University. That's where I met my band director, my maestro, Cornelio Ramos.
00:09:05
Speaker
He is then ah principal trombone player in the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. He owns ah his own... ah community band, family band, which is also so known in the Philippine marching band community.
00:09:19
Speaker
In the college days, I think that's where I was able to expand my my experience or connection when it comes to brass band, symphonic band, and orchestra more than classical.
00:09:31
Speaker
So it's that's the that's the way, like, how I was able to get a lot of different influences from my early exposure in in my elementary band with like international, like introducing me to DCI to coming to my high school era with management, like training and leadership and to classical band, symphonic band into college days.
00:09:57
Speaker
And all of that, I was able to finish my schooling with full scholarship.

Focusing on Visual Arts and Color Guard

00:10:01
Speaker
That's what's very, very big to me to share because I wanted the kids of this generation for Marching Band to realize the opportunity that we have, that you can finish your schooling because of the talents and passion that you have in Marching That is great. That is like the thing that I think can inspire a lot of students because sometimes, you know, we have something that we love and it could be Color Guard and we can still hold that with us and continue school. It doesn't have to end. If you still love it, then you can still continue it on a few more years or even more throughout your life.
00:10:37
Speaker
Like even me, like I didn't figure I'd be doing marching band stuff this long, but here I am. I'm still doing it. And every time I find out something new or just new project to work on. So that's really good.
00:10:49
Speaker
And I'm so happy that you're sharing with us that with us. And it's cool that you mentioned that you were a musician like me. I was in band first. A lot of color people do band first. I think so.
00:11:01
Speaker
I get cold. I know. Yeah. ah yougar because I don't know it's a little bit more fun for me now but um yeah and then you had some great um leadership examples of like what it could be because like you mentioned that in the Philippines it you know there's lot there's like I guess maybe you'd call it a traditional style a very cultural Filipino type of way to do marching band or you said drum and bell corps um
00:11:33
Speaker
And can you talk a little bit more about the traditional side of it versus maybe more of the contemporary side that your band director is kind of showing you? Yeah. So like going back a little about like the culture of drum and lyre, because that's more of my first exposure rather than the marching band. ah We're in like my, my, um my involvement in marching band just had to do like,
00:12:00
Speaker
last 10 years when I started organizing competition, but basically I grew up with an environment of drum and larkor. Like what I mentioned, um it's like more most likely the biggest community that we have here, more than drum and bugle core or the symphonic band or the marching band.
00:12:18
Speaker
You would see a lot of school band forming drum lacor because and like I said, it's more economical to to create because of the budget, something like that. So...
00:12:31
Speaker
With me, um going to why as a musician, suddenly I put all of my passion into color guard. Not that I perform as a color guard, but the thing that I would share before...
00:12:46
Speaker
um For the marching band, I would see that we are more involved with parades. We do like competitions, full full drill competitions like that. But I would see to it that there's not much of a visual aspect in every competition that I would observe or like we would join.
00:13:07
Speaker
Of course, it's we're big into like focusing on music, such things and such things. But since I always watch DCI show... And I see like those times, 1999, 2000, 1998, 1997, I've already seen the production ah value of the DCI shows that I've been seeing. So with that, um i I see the gap in the Philippine market or a Philippine marching band that why does no one really using the visual aspect of Color Guard that can provide?
00:13:40
Speaker
Or like, why is the not everyone like putting up a lot of, um Visual design, like, you know, props and such things. So that's why I started the vision of, okay, um let's do a color guard a p ah color guard um organization because at that time in my high school um band,
00:14:01
Speaker
we are like though probably like the the one who started um showing with about 60 color guards in the show.

Building the Color Guard Community

00:14:11
Speaker
Whoa, that's a lot.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah, before like you ah you would see bands with maybe five or eight color guards and that's already too much for them because what we have here in the Philippines is more like the majorette, you know, the baton darling. It's kind of like a long stick and it has like tassels at the end.
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah, so that's what's big in here in our tradition. and I might not be the the person who could share to you the best about that history part of the the marching band and the baton twirling because I'm more on the drum and lair part of it.
00:14:43
Speaker
But I would say before, Color Guard is not as much as recognized as what we have now. We call it actually a flag bearer. so yeah, um going back into that part of me seeing a gap of like the visual aspect for marching band like I mentioned before you would see marching band the idea of Color Guard for them is like just a flag bearer you know like Dave O'Hod is the man. Presenting. Yeah, presenting, somethings like that.
00:15:16
Speaker
um But in the Drum and Lair community, already started to have the more conventional way of Color Guard because most of the Drum and Lair instructors or the the directors have already influences while you're watching DCI and WGI. So that's where I got a got to start into you know putting up a lot more work into checking on our color guard section during my high school days. Because like at that time, I would be, as an overall leader, I would be checking what's the ah percussion is doing, what's the color guard is doing.
00:15:55
Speaker
And then since I have a lot of section leaders who's very good in what they do in the mallet section and in the drum section, and I was able to get more, a lot of attention to color guard. And then when we, yeah, when we're able to do that,
00:16:08
Speaker
um And we will go out. People would see us with 60 color guards. we i As I remember, we even have like a show where we have four sets of color guard because it's too many.
00:16:21
Speaker
And so, yeah, we were able to get the attention of the community ah on on that. And a lot of people were seeing us as... you know, oh, they're more like on the on the color guard side um of that and they see the impact of having that visual aspect on the show.
00:16:40
Speaker
And um that's where I started with the vision for SICA for the Color Guard Philippines. And since since then, it's it's been such a journey to see how how that, you know, as a small more small desire of from your heart, like, okay, you know that you would want this and now As I see how big of the community we have now for the Color Guard, it's just amazing.
00:17:06
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, ah people don't really know, if you go on YouTube and just type in Philippines Color Guard, there's a lot of videos and they're in different flavors. And like what you've talked about before of like, you know, it does, I mean, I wouldn't have even have known. You can see that there is a majorette presence in the Philippines, but you can also see that there are there are a lot of color guards. It's not a small thing. There might be smaller groups, but there are groups that are quite big and there's different types performances. Can you talk a little bit about your, more about how you
00:17:43
Speaker
brought up more Color Guard competitions? Like how did that come about? What is what is your role? So you were in high school and you finished and you went to university. And then after that, how did you cultivate more Color Guard within the Philippines? Yeah, so to talk about that, I would give um a bit of a like a background history about how we started CIGUP, but not to really just focus on CIGUP, but basically I wanted to give you like for the community of Philippine Color Guard, um So way back 2015, that year, there is a national competition organized by the PIDELAI or Philippine Drum and Lair Association. It's the second generation organization from the DLKP1.
00:18:25
Speaker
And um we we kind of ah assisted one group. Who will be joining that? i have I have a like a very close team.
00:18:36
Speaker
ah We call ourselves Powerhouse. It's seven of us in there, but a lot of people more helping us.

Standardizing Color Guard in the Philippines

00:18:42
Speaker
Our last show was 2011. We did the show 2011. That's when we first introduced somehow...
00:18:50
Speaker
that's when we first introduced somehow you know, the the idea of a standard Color Guard show, because at that time already, from the influence of my high school days, everyone already is doing Color Guard, very excited to do a lot of Color Guard shows.
00:19:07
Speaker
But one thing I noticed when we did the 2011 show, um we don't have the standard skill or like the fundamentals of Color Guard. Like we, what we were doing that time, choreography-wise is good, but there's no technique.
00:19:23
Speaker
So everyone is just excited to toss like three stories high. Everyone is just doing this and doing that, but it's good. You know, we have that, we have that. And I'm proud of what we have on that time.
00:19:35
Speaker
But I was thinking there would be more on this in the terms of technicalities, like how you would be doing it properly, or like it would be like much easier for us to do this toss, to do this.
00:19:48
Speaker
So luckily, A Filipino ah color guard performer from the U.S. studied nursing here in the Philippines that the first one, it's Troy. So he kind of introduced us to like drop spins, to single toss and things like that.
00:20:05
Speaker
We already doing those things, but not in the proper way because we don't have a hands-on training on that. um One guy before Chris, if I remember him, ah he marched SCV before Troy.
00:20:20
Speaker
He also introduced some of those things to us. And then when Troy came, were able to really focus on understanding, um okay, this is drop spin. ah This is single toss.
00:20:32
Speaker
So we would be excited just to do a clean single toss at that time. you know With those eight color guards in MDLC, we would be excited. So we did that. We did a show on that.
00:20:44
Speaker
That's 2011. Everyone had a good impression of, okay, wow, ah you can be as simple and as effective as a color guard section by just doing this fundamental you know choreography.
00:20:59
Speaker
At that time... everyone is on high on doing a big choreography for Color Guard because that's what we thought it should be. After 2011, we had a ah big gap year.
00:21:11
Speaker
And going back to 2015, the one that I mentioned, the national competition, and the first thing I observed is a lot of Color Guard adopted or like had an influence from that 2011 show where they were able to use fundamentals for Color Guard, but still doing a lot of the, you know, the Philippine touch of how we thought Color Guard should be.
00:21:36
Speaker
And I'm so excited that those people who attended the workshop that we did back on 2011 to share the fundamentals are the ones who's directing the shows on

International Exposure and Recognition

00:21:46
Speaker
2015. So I said, wow, that's that's a that's a good, like, you know, transition from, you having more and more understanding of how you should design color guard show, how you should do fundamentals and such things.
00:22:01
Speaker
But then I realized there's no, um, a venue. There's no venue for this people to share all those knowledge that they have. Like everyone at that time is excited to like have their own to explore on their own.
00:22:17
Speaker
But, also competing to the others, why not just gather all these people and we will be all together understand what we should do maybe moving forward. So that's why i have that i have that idea of even if I'm not the color guard myself, I wanted to gather these people who is very passionate about color guard. you know We don't have much resources We don't have training abroad. We don't know if we're really doing the right things that we should be doing. But being together like this, because we have all the same passion, we could share like what are we doing right now. Share knowledge. Share knowledge, right.
00:22:55
Speaker
And um basically, just to open the network and the connection. you know i wouldn't want like we will be on the competition and we will see each other as us you know uh competition for like no i would i would want everyone to be going to competition knowing that they'll be competing healthy with their friends and that they'll be they'll be growing together like the much things that we have like the small things that we learn i'm excited to share to others it's not it's not like i wanted to hold this information because
00:23:31
Speaker
I want my group to just be the one who knows this. No, it's always, my idea is to always share what whatever that you have because it's the it will benefit the community as a whole.
00:23:43
Speaker
So that's why we started that in 2015 for the C-GAP. And right now, um, Of course, a lot of things happened in 10 years and you can see different organizations now, much more groups um doing their thing and such things. But the main point is we're able to start the idea of ah working together for ah for ah one goal to to promote the Philippine color guard community.
00:24:11
Speaker
So thats that's very much exciting for me. Yes, that is wonderful because that is just showing you that you start in a good foundation. Like, okay, we're going to learn how to do this. So we're all kind of doing it the same way.
00:24:26
Speaker
And then it grew out of there. You had some people that went to that and they are the ones that started to teach. And then you all still come together to kind of share your knowledge of like how to do a maneuver or maybe like even...
00:24:38
Speaker
I don't know, do you do you discuss like things like costuming or like how to have a team and how to have a group and stuff like that? Yeah, we did. Actually, um i would also like to throw in to sharing the history as well. like This wear will expand more and because right now, like I mentioned, all of the the best choreographers here in the Philippines, um I would say, like started in the same vision as...
00:25:06
Speaker
that first meeting we have in CGAAP. Even though they have their own ah path now, different path now, different organizations that they represent, the main thing for me is we started that they believe into that vision 2015 back then.
00:25:20
Speaker
ah Just to share it to you, I i i got ah i got an information about the WGI having the first WGI championship here in Asia.
00:25:32
Speaker
That's in Malaysia. Oh, yeah. That's where we're going to connect with Gosen, with everyone around here. So at that time, no one really know that there is and existing marching band activity in the Philippines, let alone Color Guard.
00:25:46
Speaker
As in, no one knows that, okay, Philippines have it, really. Even like the neighboring countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, they already have... like some connections, but no one really is paying attention to the Philippines. Really? it wasn't until then. Whoa, that was somewhat recent, yeah. Yeah, yeah. 2015, I really um heard the news about WGI going to to the Asia, and that's also the same time of that competition where I saw the gap of having, you know, having all all of the Philippine color guard personality to be in one organization. So,
00:26:22
Speaker
I approached Ron Lankervis, the ah executive director of WGI. yeah And I introduced myself out of nowhere. Actually, not not directly to him at that time.
00:26:34
Speaker
I just messaged the information email that they have. you know If you have questions,

Achievements and Milestones

00:26:40
Speaker
message this. I introduced myself. Like, I'm Patricia. I'm from the Philippines. I'm a very big fan of WGI, blah, blah, blah. I heard that you're having a championship here in Malaysia and Thailand. How can I get an access? Because I don't know anyone from Malaysia and Thailand back then.
00:26:54
Speaker
And I was so surprised. He replied to me, I was thinking, oh, maybe I'm going to get, you know, a ah default template. you know, that would say, okay, you can register here. I'm surprised he replied to me directly.
00:27:07
Speaker
And he's the one who introduced me to Rosen, the person in charge in Malaysia with Datuzul. And Kosen Supra Setuang in Thailand. ah He introduced me, okay, you you message these people, then you can get access. So I messaged both of the organizers because WJ Asia will be happening um just a week in GAP. Like Malaysia will have week one and then Thailand. So you can actually plan to go both if you will do it.
00:27:35
Speaker
ah So that's what I did. I said to Rosanne and Kosen, hi, I'm Patricia. again And then I said, I really wanted to you know, watch WGI championship.
00:27:47
Speaker
And maybe if there is a chance for me to um join, if there is a workshop, I said to that, then suddenly cousin said to me, I do you better. Why not like gather a team and then bring it to, so the championship and join. I said, Oh my God, that would be nice.
00:28:06
Speaker
So we were talking about that maybe around end of May or early June. And then July, we founded SEA GAP. And on that, I said, we should get a pilot squad team, what we call them, like a national team, coming from one ah one representative from each of the active or the best group in the Philippines.
00:28:29
Speaker
So that's why we gathered the pioneer team. 10 uh 10 pilot squad member and we bought and we bought them to thailand so yeah we were able to yeah we were able to play in thailand we were not able to do malaysia i went to malaysia just me and some of the directors when we observed what we did uh what they did in malaysia we attended the workshop that's where i first met like michael gaines denis bonafilio um Carol Abahata, Michael Shapiro, those names that I thought I would never meet them like in person. i
00:29:04
Speaker
I just watched their shows. I watched their career ah when I was in elementary and then meeting them 2015, oh my God, it's overwhelming for me. So I met them in Malaysia. I got excited about that and ah we ah just A just five days after, we were you know getting ready to bring the pilot squad team to Thailand. We went there, got the first runner-up against very, very good ah group from Thailand.
00:29:28
Speaker
And why I'm saying this is because with that exposure, with that ah um moment, we when we, it's the first for us to um bring a Philippine team to so that arena that's the start of everything that we're having right now that's the start of the Philippine community ah being recognized I would say to to like more of the the people that we have right now like probably before um there are people who know something about the Philippines that they know but I i would say that that is the like ultimate first for us to
00:30:15
Speaker
open up the opportunity that everyone would notice the Philippines. And that's December 2015. April 2016, the first time. This is very momentous for me. Even now, every time I would say this, I would share this.
00:30:29
Speaker
It would give me goosebumps and I would like holding my tears. Because just April 2016, the following, there is the WGI Championship, of course.
00:30:40
Speaker
And it's the first time I saw the Philippine flag hang on the WGI World Championship Arena. oh Oh. Yes, because of the participation of Color Guard Philippines ahland in Thailand.
00:30:52
Speaker
So they recognize all of the country that is now ah part of the WGI International. So they hang the Philippine flag together with other Asian countries. But for me, wow. I mean...
00:31:06
Speaker
Imagine my seven-year-old self who watches on VHS seeing the Philippine flag in the world, Erdina. 2018? twenty eighteen We went there. I went there in person, saw it myself.
00:31:20
Speaker
I feel like I bought all of my Philippine marching band friends with me there. Seeing that, it means I don't know if I'm just making a big deal out of it, but just seeing our Philippine flag there, knowing that some of the Filipinos marching in the U.S. didn't even know that there's an activity in the Philippines.
00:31:38
Speaker
And after that, we gained a lot of attention of our Filipino friends, who are marching in the U.S. and wanted to have a vacation here because they wanted to meet what's happening here. Yeah.
00:31:50
Speaker
That's it. That's basically um what it why I could share about why how how is why we're here right now is because of those little dreams that we have that made happen.
00:32:04
Speaker
And that is completely phenomenal. And that really does, like, come full circle because you've really, like, helped foster this in your country and made, you know, not only an activity for students to do, but ah an activity where they can, you know, presumably travel. That wasn't the that wasn't the last time that you went internationally and brought your team and and certainly hope and will not be the last. And even, you know, I just commend WGI for being a space for kids to do something that they love, that they are so accepted.
00:32:38
Speaker
And not only kids are in the US, but kids abroad, that they can see themselves in an activity um overseas.

Cultural and Environmental Challenges

00:32:46
Speaker
And you're right. There's, and especially where I live from, the Filipinos, there's a lot of them and they're super proud, you know, of their heritage. And then I would, I would think that, you know, that, you know, there might be a Filipino and, you know, the island somewhere and they have a cousin that's marching, maybe even in one of the big groups over here, like James Logan or something like that. And they're proud that they, that they belong and that there's that connection. Yeah. Actually just, just to mention, you know, like we, now I have to ah ah go into this, like what we have in the season of Sea Gap,
00:33:21
Speaker
we have been very fortunate and blessed to have Christian Bustos. He marched with Imbue in WGI. ah He also studied nursing here in the Philippines for a long time. Like we had a great years with him. He is now a resident director and choreographer for Pilot Squad. He is able to bring, you know, ah Michael, ah Michelle, Michelle Hueta from also a captain from Blue Devils.
00:33:47
Speaker
And they they are like very, very constant, um, ah directors even though they're now living in the US they're very constant with developing the program for SIGAP Pilot Squad and that resonates and reflects to what we do here now in SIGAP and like I mentioned the Philippine Color Guard community now, so big.
00:34:13
Speaker
It's not just not just because of the influence of SIGUP, but because of everyone who, like like us, very passionate about what we're doing. And I mentioned to you off offline before we do on record, one of the things that in like indicator for me that the community that we have now is so much big and have a big demand is because There's a lot of manufacturers right now and suppliers, distributors of not just equipments, but like specifically call specifically Color Guard equipments, not just marching band equipment. So imagine before, like no one even giving importance but to what Color Guard could bring to now that that there is a demand in the market to buy printed flags because...
00:35:03
Speaker
every group now has have that such big influence. Yeah, yeah. So it's amazing. Like, I'm not even, I'm not even like saying, oh, you should you should buy into, in in our supplies or whatever. I just, just seeing like everyone um evolving on on that part and everyone is like, I would i would receive some of the inquiries coming from,
00:35:31
Speaker
ah but from Baguio, from like Mindanao, Visayas, Luzon, like like parts of the Philippines that I don't even know myself that there's an active color guard there.
00:35:42
Speaker
So like, it's it's amazing. It's amazing how us, the Philippines, um not not popular for the world to us now, seeing how the activity is growing nationwide is just amazing. And like you mentioned, I'm grateful like,
00:36:01
Speaker
The start of this is because of the the connections that we have with WGI, but also now I i would probably say as well, because we have the Asian Marching Band Confederation, and that's a close, you know, a much more closer community that we have here.
00:36:17
Speaker
And we started, ah most likely, ah every one of us has started seeing what you're doing there in the US. You know, probably all of all over the world will be um focusing on what's happening in the US, what's happening in DCI and WGI. And that's where we want it to be.
00:36:36
Speaker
And that's good. That's how I started. I got inspired of what you're doing. You're still up to now is the standard of what we wanted to do. But, you know, having the Asian Marching Band Confederation, the AMBC community here,
00:36:50
Speaker
It's us making a statement that we have a strong community here in Asia and everyone should also be excited watching us, what's happening here in Asia. Because i've like for 10 years that we've been doing this, I've seen a lot of you know our friends from Europe, from US, we will invite them to judge here and they will be amazed, like speechless of...
00:37:16
Speaker
how much we have here. There's some Asian programs that I'm like, whoa, I didn't know. Whoa, there there's so much talent here, of Exactly, exactly. Probably like the skill level, we still have a lot of things to work if we were going to be comparing it to DCI. But just seeing what we have here, like culture-wise,
00:37:35
Speaker
I would say that there's no such, like, comparison of if you see a full marching band in but Indonesia um and they will be doing a repertoire about, like, their culture, like, very much culture-based.
00:37:51
Speaker
It's very different when you watch that to watching and being amazed of, like, For example, what's happening in DCI. So like DCI, for me, okay, I love what you're doing, but it hits hard for me seeing a cultural show emerge into a marching band show. So that's for me, it's amazing. and Yeah, and it's so different too, especially being from the US and seeing the usual US shows. And then I went to Thailand and I was like,
00:38:19
Speaker
i know whoa what is this it's so much intrigue because you know not only what they're wearing but like the way they perform is different and the way that that they communicate non-verbally to the audience and it's just something for sure seen online is one thing but seen in person is the other thing too um we're gonna take a quick commercial break and then we'll be right back so hang tight
00:38:53
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:39:59
Speaker
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00:40:15
Speaker
And we're back. So we just got back from our little break. We talked a little bit in the beginning about how Color Guard in the Philippines, the organization got started, kind of more of the competitions. Can you talk a little bit more of like the different types of contests or performances there are in the Philippines?
00:40:33
Speaker
So, yeah.

Economic Aspects and Popularity

00:40:35
Speaker
Now, like what we have, because more of the competitions that we have are sanctioned and patterned to the program of Asian Marching Bank Confederation, AMBC. So we still do a lot of marching full band show where the Color Guard is part of a marching full band. And then we have, as I mentioned, lot of drum and laryn, drum and bell corps competition.
00:40:57
Speaker
But more and more so, right now, i'm I'm very happy to see a lot of competitions offering solo Color Guard competitions, duo Color Guard. Even we started Color Guard Battles.
00:41:12
Speaker
And of course, the indoor color guard, like the WGI pattern, or what we call is this indoor marching arts. So there's a lot of those things happening for color guards. So it's not just the color guards being part of the marching band as a section, but also growing as indoor performing arts.
00:41:29
Speaker
So that that's very exciting. Yes. And can you talk a little bit about each one and what makes them maybe special a little bit to the Philippines? Like we've already talked a little bit about the Drum and Lyre, um but talk a little bit more as well as about the battles that you do, because we talked a little bit on the Thailand side, but how your country is receiving it and also maybe some televised things that you've done in the past.
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah, so I should also mention that before, because of the big um exposure of Color Guard in the Drum and Lyre community, now the marching band and the Drum and Bugle community are having more and more acceptance of the Color Guard um section in in their shows.
00:42:14
Speaker
I would see you know from the 2016 when we started organizing with Bacoor. Bacoor is the marching band capital of the Philippines and they are like the grandest marching band competition in the Philippines where everyone would be excited to be involved with.
00:42:31
Speaker
We would have 60 participating bands for that competition. and That's like the first one who is being sanctioned by AMBC first first competition who like have a full international panel of judges.
00:42:47
Speaker
So like at first, you know there would be like color guard ah Color Guard in the shows, but right now i I see that they're giving more importance of what the Color Guard is bringing on the completion of a visual show.
00:43:02
Speaker
Also because we had introduced the caption judging because before, you know traditionally, we would be judging marching band competition as is like you will have three judges, everyone will be judging like general effects.
00:43:16
Speaker
Right now, because we have caption judging, basic specifically there would be a visual caption, color guard caption judges, everyone will have to develop a certain, you know, a show that would focus on that caption. So that's one thing.
00:43:32
Speaker
And seeing that as well, knowing also that the people involved in the visual, in the marching, and in the color guard section of the show for Drum and Bugle and Color Guard came from a drum and lyre background. That's also like, I'm very proud of that part because right now everyone is embracing more and more of that, but also still doing like the importance of the tradition of what we do in the Philippines, having still the major side of the competition and you know, be be still being focused more of the music.
00:44:06
Speaker
And just last competition that we did, I see a lot of, you know, development when it comes to ah drill design, overall visual analysis of the the the show, and putting more heavy on the color guard exposure in the drill. Like you would see lot of changing of transition of color guard flags every show. So I think that's that's very good.
00:44:33
Speaker
So that's what we have in marching band side. And of course, we were developing more of the indoor you know marching arts for having like the Color Guard ensemble competitions. And that's where we would see a lot of exciting show where the Color Guard was able to express more of what show that they wanted to do. Because in marching band, they have to be specific.
00:44:56
Speaker
like, you know, marching marching drills with the but the musicians, but doing an indoor color guard show, it's more for them to express what they wanted to do. They can do crazy things and that part. And like, as you mentioned, we have a lot of groups here, you know, independent groups as well, who we call like celebrity color guards. They've been being invited to a lot of TV guestings, a lot of those shows, ah national television and,
00:45:24
Speaker
Some of the independent color guards also, like they they will do corporate shows. They will be invited and to do like opening of this event and opening of a reunion event or whatsoever. So there's a lot of b an opportunity for just the color guard section alone to ah have exposure and growth outside of the marching band section. So that's that's very exciting to see as well.
00:45:52
Speaker
Yeah, there's so there's so much opportunity that has been created. um i think that's so cool. Like even I saw something that was like the little performers or it was like some stage show. I forgot exactly what that was. Almost like in a variety talent show or something. Yes, it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think you're talking about i little big talent something. Yeah, something like that. Yes, little big show.
00:46:19
Speaker
Yeah, and then those three... kids that you saw, they they were once part of the pilot squad. Now they have their own career and different ah marching band right now. Most of them are, the three of them, I think leaders already of their own marching band. One of them is playing in one of the university band here and also got scholarships. So that's good, you know, like not not just like the marching band people is recognizing color guards, more on like the general people, you know,
00:46:49
Speaker
having an interest and appreciating what Color Guard could bring. Like, we would get a lot of production event that would invite Color Guard to, you know, be the opening show for their event. Actually, tomorrow we will have one.
00:47:05
Speaker
That's why Pilot Squad will be having a rehearsal today. So it's like more of a corporate event, even weddings. We will be invited on weddings just to do a show. So a lot of those things. And like you mentioned...
00:47:18
Speaker
we developed this new category called the Color Guard battle, you know, obviously came from drumline battle. Uh, and it's a big, it's a big, uh, history as well in Asia where we started the, the music battle as we call it in AMBC.
00:47:33
Speaker
So we did wind battle, drumline battle, and now having the Color Guard battle just last year, we did it in Baku Or as well. We have lot of participants and you can see, you know, uh,
00:47:45
Speaker
different styles of Color Guard right now. You can gauge where we are right now and seeing that kind of a format for Color Guard to have a venue again to express their there's self other than that being part of the marching band is such a great thing to watch.
00:48:00
Speaker
Yes, and I love that there's so many different opportunities because I feel sometimes in the U.S. that you either do field show the fall, or maybe you're in California and you do parade, and that's it. And then come Winter Guard, we have Winter Guard, and we spend a lot of time on that. But it's really nice that, especially in the Philippines, I see that there's a lot more eyes in the public, especially for things like the parades or the battles, and just to let the community know this is something that your child can do, they can be a part of.
00:48:32
Speaker
And, you know, it's a great group activity, you know, all the things that we know that come with marching band, but it's so vibrant and there's so much energy in the Philippines for it, which is really commendable. So i have a couple of questions here just so our viewers and our listeners know a little bit more. But the Philippines, if people don't know, it's a lot of islands.
00:48:53
Speaker
It's a lot. lot of islands and there's it's tropical weather. So where do people perform specifically in the Philippines? Like what are the venues kind of like?
00:49:04
Speaker
So yeah, like you mentioned, we are composed of like 7,000 more. i should have research that so I could give you it specific. But yeah, so like we have, we also have like three major islands, Luzon, Vilhaes, Mindanao, as you said, tropical country. That's why we don't usually use a winter guard terminologies here. We use it at Inderguard something because there's no winter here.
00:49:27
Speaker
We usually perform like outdoor. It's always outdoor, but now having, you know, the demands of, of having a lot of indoor, indoor performance show,
00:49:38
Speaker
a lot of organization and a lot of event organizers, you know, they're trying to provide more and more space like on the indoor covered court, like a gymnasium, because they know it will not be feasible for a color guard to do an outdoor show, especially with the wind factor, you know, and such things as

Travel and Financial Considerations

00:49:57
Speaker
things. But,
00:49:57
Speaker
Growing up, it's always like that. It's always outdoor. like The sun is so hot. Rain is there. You continue whatever that you needed to do. You continue the show. But now, I could see that they have you know they have the awareness of, okay, if we're going to do this competition, we should have a covered court like venue.
00:50:17
Speaker
And it's one of my dreams to have, you know, more and more designed arena specifically for marching band. Because right now we're just using a basketball court. We're just using, you know, the the indoor court for so certain sports, but not really designed for a marching band connect activity or a collar guard activity. So hopefully, hopefully, you know, there will come like a ah time soon that we could design a gymnasium that's specifically designed for collar guards.
00:50:45
Speaker
Yes, that's that's always the dream and doing something specifically for Color Garden. um When I was there in the Philippines, I was, where was it? Sticky Whore. was down in Conmore. Sticky yeah, yeah. Yeah, more in the South. And I remember being like on the beach.
00:51:00
Speaker
And then looking to the side and there was a gymnasium, ah basketball. And I was like, oh, this would be great for color guard. and But it's like a half outdoor inside basketball. yes But it's covered. And that's the main thing just in case it's wet or blocks the wind. But that's kind of what it is in the Philippines.
00:51:18
Speaker
It's just a different environment because in the U.S. we have inside inside. And different from the East Coast to the West Coast. But this is like tropical weather. You have to visualize like. There's probably beach right next door. So, you know, just a different environment. It's pretty cool. But talking a little bit about the islands. So how do people travel sometimes to the competitions? Like, what is that like? Bringing a team from, you know, what you said. I forgot exactly. What was the name of the the main competition that you have in the Philippines?
00:51:49
Speaker
Bacoor. Bacoor is the grandest marching band competition in the Philippines. So it is hosted by the city of Bacoor. Yeah, that's that's cool. And then how do the students get there or, you know, what is that kind of like? So since the Philippines, you know, like a lot of islands, as you mentioned, there is a challenge in like going into competitions like this.
00:52:13
Speaker
I believe like the farthest one, the participants that we had before, there's like from Davao City. So it's from the Mindanao part of the Philippines. They have to take... ah a plane to to travel to the city of Baco Or.
00:52:29
Speaker
And most of the performers here, although around just Lausanne, that they can travel ah by, you know, by, like, by bus. And they would travel, like, 12 hours, 16 hours just to to be there. So, this like, same same goes with but some of the groups in the U.S. Probably they do that. They travel like that. And to be honest, it's a lot of challenge when comes to financial because, you know, you have to,
00:52:55
Speaker
check the logistics and things from transportation instead of like putting that fund into, you know, ah your show, you're funding the show. You also have to, to also think of how you're going to arrange the transportation just to participate in such competitions. But luckily you will still be able to manage that. And i believe everyone is like working their own program programs and their, in their band, like if they wanted to join,
00:53:23
Speaker
they would do fundraising so that they could join. like What's good with Bacoor as well is they provide the financial assistance to the band you know to help them with transportation, to help them with the foods. not Maybe not as a full amount that they could give, but where else where you find the competition that the organizer is the one providing a financial assistance so that the group could at least have some support to travel going to the event. So I'm very grateful that they have those programs and they have a lot of other programs as well, supporting the national organizations.
00:54:00
Speaker
They would be giving, you know, okay, so grants, ah something like that. So the organization would send them proposal that this is what they wanted to do and then they will provide grant or some support.
00:54:11
Speaker
So it's a continuous process like for SIGUP, if ever that we would have, Some workshop, like last year, we did a big camp spin, with but what we call it, our color graduation.
00:54:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's camp spin. So we partnered with Bacor, and then they provided the venue for us, and they even provided food for the participants. So those things, there's there are some programs i'm sorry around supporting to continue the activity for March event.
00:54:43
Speaker
That's so great because like, that's the thing a lot for me, especially is like going on those little trips and like going somewhere with your team and then seeing other groups and then just makes that fun, competitive, but also, you know, the camaraderie of like, oh, people are doing this the same way. I want to go see their show. And it's great that you're making those memories.
00:55:01
Speaker
and and I think like some, like also the groups from like Samhuanga and other ah groups also, like they're,
00:55:12
Speaker
Like last year, I just have to say, like three groups from Lucena, Quezon, traveled abroad to join competition. And it's not even a group from Manila that, you know, you would expect someone from Manila will be the one to do a lot of competitions

Global Collaboration and Future Plans

00:55:29
Speaker
have abroad. But I'm just very happy to see that a lot of like lots of provincial groups are um you know, trying it to to have more exposure to international community. So that's great to see as well.
00:55:43
Speaker
Yes. And especially with the international thing, like that's how I met you the Thailand competition. that was so great. You gave me like some chocolate. Thank you so much. Oh yeah. I remember. I always like have. the I always appreciate I was like, Oh my gosh, everyone's so nice here.
00:56:00
Speaker
um But yeah. And just making it more of an international thing. I'm sure. Like we talked about a little bit, like, you know, bringing them to Thailand, maybe bringing them to other places. Is there anything um in the future that you want to bring, i don't know, the pilot squad or anybody else to? Like, what are your yeah plans for the future for the Philippines?
00:56:19
Speaker
So what's exciting is just last December, we are able to formally launch the WMBO or the World Marching Band Organization. Oh, yeah.
00:56:31
Speaker
So WMBO is basically, you know, a what did what we want is to be like the UN of marching band worldwide. So of course, you know, we have different organizations and different event organizers around the world. But basically right now, unless you, you know, like in Asia, we already saw the benefit of having like this one main organization that could connect all of the countries in Asia to have like the standard competition, um you know, regulations or like how can we help
00:57:04
Speaker
like the, this small country who was just starting the marching band, like Maldives is starting Sri Lanka is starting Vietnam just did their first festival. So we saw that is happening in Asia and we wanted to do like worldwide.
00:57:19
Speaker
That's why we launched the WNBO. We are able to get some, you know, representatives from Africa. We're able to get representatives from Russia, from, you know, different like Europe and U.S. of course.
00:57:31
Speaker
So, we're able to connect those things and that's why we're excited to provide that opportunity in the Philippine marching band because right now we're already, you know, some of the groups are already planning to go to CGN, Color Guard Netherlands, you know.
00:57:44
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, I know. Like, WGI, of course, always been there as a dream of us to go but, you You know definitely that there will be a challenge financially to travel ah abroad like that. But just just for you to give that opportunity that they know they can have is something.
00:58:08
Speaker
You know, probably 10 years ago, i wouldn't even realize that it's possible for me to bring Philippine team to international community. But right now, every year we have groups traveling around Asia to join Thailand, to join Malaysia, to join Indonesia.
00:58:29
Speaker
And because now we have the connection through WNBO to have like Netherlands, to have Australia, you know, that could also be part of their dream that they could be there. So it's not just, okay, I will plan for Asia. I will also plan for the world. So that's what we're providing to the Philippine community right now, that the opportunity that they can be do more to to to experience and be involved in those kind of competitions around the world.
00:58:58
Speaker
That is tremendous. And I so can't wait to see that all happen. I think, you know, really using the eye and international of all the organizations and really make this a global community. And that's my hope to see for the immediate future. Because I can't wait to be like, oh, yeah, I'm going to root um all all the countries, especially all the people that I know, but like, especially the ones from Asia, because, you know, it's going to come.
00:59:26
Speaker
We can't wait to see them on the floor the field. and Yeah, and also as well, you know, meeting different people because of this conference, because of these conventions, and we're able to couldn connect to the people who is like voluntarily really wanted to be involved in the Philippine Marching Band.
00:59:43
Speaker
you know, we have already interest from music arrangers, you know, visual choreographers. They really wanted to go here in the Philippines, visit us, see what's happening, and just provide the service for free because they know there's a lot of potential here here in the Philippines. So I'm excited for that this coming season that to invite a lot of people to just give foundation ah to the Philippines because I truly believe like you just, the Filipinos are very passionate in everything that

Cultural Significance in Celebrations

01:00:13
Speaker
we do. Oh yeah, they are.
01:00:15
Speaker
So much. And marching band is literally part of our everyday traditions and culture. You wouldn't see a festival without a marching band. Everything that you celebrate, there is a marching band. Even even like funerals, like in Bacoor, you know what, just to share...
01:00:34
Speaker
there's this, I don't know if it's a tradition or like like a a belief that if you, like, um if a person dies and like the funeral should have like a marching band to bring him to the last, you know, too wow goes to i think it's going to happen.
01:00:55
Speaker
So the City Hall, since not everyone will have the capacity to, you know, pay for a marching band to to do that, they did, ah they created, sorry, they created a community band, is what they call, so that everyone who would want to, you know, request for this community band to play for the for the funeral of someone they love, they could have, because that much they believe for that tradition. So I think it's something, like, you know, to share with, that's how much marching band culture and influence we have here in the Philippines, so.
01:01:31
Speaker
yeah i'm I'm so excited about that as well. We can share more of those things that we have. That is truly special. and i When I die, please let there be a marching band. You're leading me. Please, please. please yes as yeah and I would say as well, one of the fondest memories that I have, you know it's a sad thing you know losing someone, and especially if it's Like, very dear to you. As I mentioned, my, I call him Tatay, a father figure in my and my drum and lyric career, passed away. And, you know, a lot of bands played for him during his last night.
01:02:12
Speaker
And it's like a celebration of music and you know of because of his legacy. And I think that's part of it. like it it wouldn't It wouldn't be the same if we didn't do that for him. And that's what we do every time there will be someone passing away and as part of a marching band.
01:02:30
Speaker
We make sure that we gather there as much as we can. The groups voluntarily go there and they wanted to like play up music for for that person just you know to pay their

Upcoming Events and Engagement

01:02:40
Speaker
respects.
01:02:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. And I bet that was truly special, especially with someone that meant so much to the community. Yeah. and All right. We're almost going to wrap up, but before we go, i wanted to give you an opportunity to do a gush and go. And this is just a promo time for you to say anything you want to say just to close out this episode.
01:03:05
Speaker
Yeah. So I'm very much thankful for you water break program for giving me this opportunity to share a lot of things that you know Every time I would have a chance to talk to people about marching band, I go all over the place. like I put a lot of things because I'm that passionate about it.
01:03:25
Speaker
And just to let everyone know that SIGUP is ah celebrating its 10th year anniversary this year, 2025. cannot believe on 10 years already.
01:03:37
Speaker
And we have a lot of things planned for this year. we are ah planning for... concert for the pilot squad that will be on july on the actual birthday month we will be having a season two of see that ph we call it color colors of the philippines at a concert at the park ah we also have planning for a spin fest um it's a color guard competition it will also be somewhere maybe august or september we be having series of camp spin that's a color guard workshop we will be doing actually
01:04:10
Speaker
roadshow of Camp Spin. So it's not just going to be in Manila. So everyone look out for that. We're open for invitation as well for exclusive Camp Spin for your school, for your city. And we have a lot of programs for international engagements with AMBC and WMBO.
01:04:28
Speaker
We are already planning to bring some ah groups going to Indonesia, going to Malaysia, going to Thailand. So that's all planned out for this year. The national organizations are continuously doing programs on their own. I can see a lot of upcoming competitions, workshops as well for different organizations. And I just wanted to also put into the and the word like just what we are planning to do to have a like an expo, grand expo convention for manufacturers and suppliers of color guard equipment as well as you know other marching band
01:05:06
Speaker
equipment We wanted to be more sustainable like in the local market as much as we also wanted to acquire different advanced equipment from import import equipment. But just to let you know that we have a lot of suppliers and distributors as well in the Philippines.
01:05:23
Speaker
SIGAP is continuously promoting some of products in SIGAP stores. So if you need you know our rifle, we're already developing our own rifle here locally, our own... um ah equipments as well. We continuous continuously distribute printed flags and gloves and we are accepting just a solo order is okay because others would think, oh, we need to buy like 20 pieces. No, we You can invest your own one-piece solo flag, one-piece rifle, just to have your own equipment to continue your training. So and that's one the the things that I wanted to share and just very, very excited.
01:06:00
Speaker
We are just in the first quarter of the the year, not even March or already, but there's a lot of the calendar activities already. id So it just watch out for that. Connect to our social media and we'll be happy just to have you And the Sea Gap as well. You can audition to Pilot Squad.
01:06:18
Speaker
We have every month audition. You just connect with us. And we'll will be happy to have you in the family. Yeah. So here the audience. So if you want to go to the Philippines and you want to spin, you could presumably join the Philippine Color Guard Sea Gap. And also, it sounds like you're welcoming some people from abroad to come and see what the Philippines has to offer. Maybe even help out every which way they can.
01:06:43
Speaker
And also like me, I i was looking in my Instagram and seeing all the products that they're selling. wass like I want this for my kids. Like, I haven't seen this design in the U.S. So, you know, they have some cool products in the country as well. So you can look for that there as well.
01:06:59
Speaker
All right. We are going to finish out and we'll be right back.
01:07:13
Speaker
So thank you everyone for a great international rehearsal this week. Thank you so much, Patricia, for joining me today. i really, really appreciate it
01:07:25
Speaker
sorry about that. um Thank you so much, I really appreciate If people want to find out more about what you do or about the Color Guard in the Philippines, who should they contact, who should they follow?
01:07:36
Speaker
Oh yeah. So ah you can follow Color Guard Alliance of the Philippines on social media, just type CGAP or Color Guard Philippines. We have on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I'm very proud that our captains is the one managing it. So it's more like relatable for others.
01:07:52
Speaker
The content of that is more of like a daily basis. So, Just connect with us and through our social media and we'll be happy to to engage with you in any discussions that you wanted to. Yay.
01:08:03
Speaker
And lastly, audience, don't forget we have our YouTube channel. that now has many of our interviews coming out and as as well as full video editions. So go and subscribe so you don't miss those.
01:08:15
Speaker
And before you close out this podcast and listening to us, go and subscribe, write us a review, share this with a friend that might find this really interesting, especially those with Filipino heritage.
01:08:27
Speaker
Follow us on social media at on a water break, and we'll see you on the next rehearsal on a water break. Thank you. everyone. Thank you so much
01:08:44
Speaker
you so much. The On a Water Break podcast was produced by Jeremy Williams and Christine Ream. The intro and outro music was produced by Josh Lida. To learn more, visit LidaMusic.com.
01:08:57
Speaker
And until next time, thanks for tuning