UP Kalilayan, a socio-cultural organization from the University of the Philippines Diliman, focused on Covid19 disinformation in its week-long Tagisan 35 competition for junior and senior high school students in Quezon and Aurora provinces.

In Tagisan 35, students compete in various categories like impromptu speech and dagliang talumpati, essay writing and pagsulat ng sanaysay, short film making contest, quiz show, digital poster making, song making and photography.

This year’s theme is “Lifelines and Headlines: Unmasking Gen Z’s Role in Flattening the Infodemic Curve,” which  focuses on the pandemic in the age of “fake news.”

Tagisan 35 Project Head Ainjelou Arce said that the competition gives schools in the two provinces the chance to join competitions.

“It is also an opportunity for rural schools in Quezon and Aurora to showcase their skills and talents as they usually can’t participate [in] the event in a face-to-face setup since the venue is usually far from their respective municipalities,” Arce said.

She admitted that this year’s competition brought a different challenge because of the Covid19 restrictions.

The Tagisan 35 main event will be streamed on its official Facebook page on March 6, 2021.

Tagisan is one of the country’s largest provincial inter school competitions. It is also an annual gathering of the brightest junior and senior high school students from Quezon and Aurora.