Linemen dance 'Twerk It Like Miley' atop wobbly, 40-ft. high electric poles!

It was a sight that was hardly believable.

 

Thirty-five electric posts were erected in the vicinity of an electric cooperative in Manolo Fortich in Bukidnon. This looks normal. What happens next certainly isn’t.
 

 

Later on, 35 men started swiftly climbing to the top of these 40-ft. high electric posts, stood atop, and started dancing “Twerk It Like Miley”—clapping their hands, twirling their hips, and shaking their booty.

 

This breathtaking performance of the men—who are collectively known as Batch Jaguars—wasn’t all for naught. This was, actually, part of their graduation rites at Bukidnon Second Electric Cooperative (BUSECO), where they all trained to become electric linemen.

Watch the video of their performance here.

 

 

But Batch Jaguars wasn’t the first group that performed that day. Before they showed that they could twerk it like Miley, BUSECO’s Batch 2006 and Batch 2011 graduates—or Batch Spiders and Batch Wildcats, respectively—first climbed up the poles to display their groups’ own creative acts.

 

Their dance routines were also an unbelievable sight. They looked as though they were literal spiders and wildcats who could quickly climb poles with ease! They had their own gimmicks: One of the linemen played the guitar while hanging through a harness, while others impersonated the all-Filipino male singing group Hagibis.

 

According to Deiter Hoff Arellano, general manager of BUSECO, “We’re really doing this with intent to better serve our member consumer owners. But if we could share also the talents and skills of our linemen, [that] could also be an honor [if others can see] how BUSECO linemen are doing their [work] here.”

 

Linemen who don’t just give up

 

Of the hundreds of applicants for BUSECO’s training program, only 35 made it to the top—literally.

 

One of them is 21-year-old Abdul Kane Delos Santos, or Papuy, who’s supposed to be on his fourth year in college taking up Automotive Technology. However, when the chance for him to become one of BUSECO’s trainees knocked on his door, he couldn’t just let the opportunity pass.
 

 

“Napag-isip-isip ko na mas mabuti pang tumigil na lang [sa pag-aaral] para makatulong sa pamilya ko [dahil] sa hirap ng buhay (I thought that it was wiser if I would stop schooling so I could help my family. Our life is hard),” confesses Papuy. He doesn’t regret his decision as he’s now able to send his three younger siblings to school.

 

It all works for Papuy because he also naturally enjoys dancing. So when the time came that his batch had to perform atop the 40-ft. high poles, he was all-out in showing the world that, yes, he can certainly twerk it like Miley!

 

But not every lineman at BUSECO could dance. In fact, 20-year-old Candelario Descallar admits that dancing for their graduation rites was the first time that he actually moved to the beat!
 

 

Candelario was pretty much the underdog of the batch. Aside from being the youngest, he also had zero working experience prior. As he recalls, there were even some who doubted if he could make it to the program’s graduation.

 

But Candelario is not a quitter. “Mas lalo akong ginanahan. Mas pagbubutihin ko pa po ang ginagawa ko para mapakita ko sa kanila na mali sila (I have become more motivated to do my job properly to prove them wrong),” says the Public Administration graduate.

 

A job that’s not for the weak

 

Becoming a lineman isn’t easy at all. It involves a lot of physical activities such as “speeding,” where they’re being timed at how fast (or rather, slow) they climb up the electric posts, wire-walking, wire-riding, and pole-climbing. And yes, another item that should be added to that list is dancing while having to maintain their balance while atop a 40-ft. high electric post!
 

 

“Mukha lang siyang madali. Pero sa umpisa talaga, iyak sila (It only seems easy but it could make you cry during your initial training),” says Rolland Alloso of BUSECO. “Dapat may tiwala ka sa sarili mo pagpasok mo pa lang dito kasi alam naman nilang lahat bago sila pumasok dito na mahirap talaga ang training namin (You should have confidence in yourself when you get here; they all know even before they got here that our trainings are very rigorous).”

 

The graduate who managed to do all these excellently is 25-year-old Joemar Marfel, who finished as the batch’s valedictorian. How did he manage to be on top of the class? He answers, “’Pag may time, study, familiarize lang ‘yung ginagawa namin. Tapos pagdarasal din (Whenever I have spare time, I just study and familiarize myself with everything we talk about during lectures. And I pray, too).”

 

Joemar says that probably the hardest part of the entire training program was pole-climbing, or having to climb up 30 electric posts in one day!
 

 

After all the intensive and exhausting physical activities that BUSECO trainees had to undergo through, they had already reached the graduation rites, received their certificates, and got officially hired at BUSECO, where they’re expected to earn P17,000 to P18,000. Congratulations, Batch Jaguars!

 

For most companies and organizations, especially in a country like the Philippines where the people are known to be fun and creative (just check out our memes!), holding artistic initiation rites are no longer new.

 

But for BUSECO training program’s graduates, success shouldn’t end after they shake it off. Upon receiving their proof of training completion, they’re all expected to fulfill their duties and responsibilities as newly instated and official members of the company that they now all belong to.—Juju Z. Baluyot/BMS, GMA Public Affairs

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