Ready, get set, draw

Have you greeted your favorite pet Happy Valentine’s?

Saturday is normally a bad day to invite anyone from the Life section to cover an event, Friday being hell day for all of us as we close pages for the days ahead.

But there I was at the Marikina Riverbanks Building H, not so bright-eyed at 10 a.m. last Saturday. There was the first Bay-O-Pet Luv Art Contest to judge and we were not going to miss it. Neither were the 68 Grade 1 to 3 kids who had signed up for the contest. The contest was sponsored by Bayer HealthCare-Animal Health, which hopes that the contest would help promote responsible pet care among the kids.

"Are you ready to draw?" asked event host and artist Robert Alejandro.

"Yes!" came the kids’ quick reply.

"OK. I can’t wait to see what creations you will make," added Robert.

To set the mood right and perhaps even to give the kids some ideas for their work, Oscar Lei of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society gave a talk on responsible pet care. Buck, the Great Dane at PAWS shelter, was with Oscar and the kids got a kick out of playing with the big and gentle canine.

Talk over. Time to start drawing.

"Do you want me to show you how to draw Buck?" asked Robert. And even before the kids could answer, Robert was drawing Buck for them.

Using crayons and the illustration boards provided by Bayer, the kids were given 45 minutes to complete their drawings. The theme was "My pet dog and I."

"What if I don’t have a dog?" asked one girl.

"Well, try to imagine what your pet dog would look like if you had one," answered Robert.

I watched the kids draw. It is fun seeing a work of art in the making and to see the kids use their imagination. The kids’ drawings were to be judged based on interesting interpretation of the theme (40 percent), positive impression (30 percent) and originality and creativity (30 percent).

The judges included Norman Isaac, editorial cartoonist of Animal Scene Magazine, Oscar Lei, Sr. Celia Agius Vadala of the Congregation of St. Dorothy of Malta, Rey Bargas, AVP for client service of PAC.comm., Inc. and myself.

"It’s good I was not asked to judge the contest. I would find it so hard, all the drawings are great," said Robert to me as I watched the kids.

"Yup. Not only are they all good. There are so many of them," I answered. "Five more minutes. If you are not yet done, better hurry up," Robert calls to the kids.

By 11:30 a.m., all the art work were in and the work of the judges began.

And Robert was right, it was no easy task. I had to make sure that I looked at each drawing with "new eyes". I had to leave the area where the kids’ art was placed twice for about 5 minutes each time to rest my eyes.

While we judged the kids watched a performance by Saver, the wonder dog who was trained by Jun Lazarte. "Saver, buksan mo ang ilaw," commands Jun. Saver leaps up and turns on the lamp on the stage. Saver can also add, mind you. He barked four times when asked what is 2 plus 2. "Saver has also appeared in several TV shows and he knows how to use the toilet," added Jun.

Shortly after noon the scores were tallied.

Finally, winners.

Marko Alab Samwel Adviento of Ateneo de Manila University won the top prize which included a trophy, P10,000 in a savings account and a Bay-O-Pet gift bag. Second place went to Justen Paul Tolentino of St. Stephen’s High School who won a trophy, a P5,000 savings account and a Bay-O-Pet giftbag; and third prize went to Ania Acebedo of Victory Christian School who won a trophy, a P3,000 savings account and a Bay-O-Pet gift bag.

Completing the list of winners are Jose Javier Puyat of Ateneo de Manila University; Josemaria Antonio Luat of Xavier School; Ma. Angelica Martinez of St. Scholastica Academy; Gabrielle Luisa de Guia Cantos of Colegio de San Agustin; Raphael Orosa of Xavier School; Mike Fransca Suzuki of St. Mary¶s College and Elisha Tiu Laurel, GCP International Christian School.

"This event is one of our new initiatives to help promote pet care among children," said Dr. Alberto Milani, general manager/ASEAN of Bayer HealthCare-Animal Health. "And all of you who joined today have proven through your work that caring for pets is not only the right thing to do – it is also fun."