BY A WIDE margin, Team Stallions won the overall championship in the PASUC I Socio-cultural and Literary Festival held Oct. 28 at the MMSU Batac Campus.

MMSU, which won first place in 15 of the 19 events contested, garnered 115 total points for a runaway win against second placer Pangasinan State University which scored 77. Points obtained by other member-SUCs were: Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University, 73; University of Northern Philippines, 68; Ilocos Sur Polytechnic State College, 48; and North Luzon Philippines State College, 38. MMSU has been the defending champion for 11 years.

This year’s theme, “PASUC socio-cultural development toward ASEAN integration”, was tackled in the various literary, visual arts, musical, and dance contests, namely: story-telling, extemporaneous speaking, and essay writing (both in English and Filipino); hip hop, folk rural, indigenous, and contemporary dances; on-the-spot painting and charcoal rendering; kundiman vocal solo, pop solo, duet, instrumental solo, and choral contest; quiz bee; and Search for Mr. and Ms. PASUC. MMSU placed second in extemporaneous speaking, on-the-spot painting, indigenous dance, and the Search. It ranked first in all others.

Off to Cagayan de Oro
The winners will represent Region I in the PASUC National Socio-cultural and Literary Festival to be hosted by the Mindanao University of Science and Technology in Cagayan de Oro City on Dec. 9-12. Region I is the defending champion in the national meet last held in 2012 in Metro Manila.

Hard work, fair play
PESSDO Director Arsenio T. Gallego credits the results to the intense preparation of the contestants and their coaches. He also stressed the importance of fair and objective judging in the competitions. For her part, sociocultural chief Ma. Victoria R. Domingo enumerates four ingredients of the Stallions’ success: hard work, passion for excellence, community support, and faith in God.