March 2010 – Page 3 – Cebu Sports Blog by John Pages

The 28th SAC-SMB Cebu Sports Awards

It’s “The Oscars” of Cebu sports. It’s the one evening of the year’s 365 nights when all the top athletes gather to mingle, swap stories, celebrate and be applauded.

It’s the Cebu Sports Awards this Thursday 6 p.m. at the Casino Español. Jointly organized by the Sportswriters Association of Cebu and San Miguel Beer, our main guest of honor is Mr. Boxing himself, Antonio Lopez Aldeguer, while the Sportsman of the Year, whose identity will be revealed in 48 hours, sports the initials “E.H.”

The awardees: Presidential: Z Gorres. Orlacsan: Jessica Jawad-Honoridez. Posthumous: *** Eugene De La Cerna.

MAJOR: Athletics: Daniel Noval, Lindley Fran Navaja, George Pinanonang. Badminton: Ralph Ian Mendez. Basketball: M.Lhuilleir Kwarta Padala-Cebu Ninos, Woodrow Enriquez, JuneMar Fajardo, Gregory Slaughter, Mark Jayven Tallo and the University of the Visayas. Beach volley: (men) USJ-R (Ariel Carumba and Loujei Tipgos); (women) USP (Erika Camille Verano, Apple Saraum). Billiards: Rubilen Amit. Bowling: Jomar Jumapao. Boxing: Johnreil Casimero, Rodel Mayol, Donnie Nietes. Chess: Joseph Sanchez. Dancesport: DTCC, Charlea Lagaras.

Golf: Irina Gabasa. Judo: Vicente Fernandez III. Karatedo: Lutche Metante, Noel Espinosa. Karting: Jette Calderon, Juan Antonio Carcel. Mixed Martial Arts: Deftac Cebu. Pencak Silat: Marniel Dimla. Running: Mendel Lopez, Mary Grace de los Santos, Leszl Gitaruelas. Sepak Takraw: Metodio Suico, Gene Mark Saavedra, Harrison Castañares, Jerome Vendiola.

Swimming: Loren Dale Echavez, Paula Abigail Vega, Anthony Linn Navarro, Bea Roble. Scrabble: Teodoro Martus, Jr. Table Tennis: Richard Gonzales and Dannel Jay Tormis. Taekwondo: Shaneen Sia. Triathlon: Noy Jopson, Lorhiz Echavez. Tennis: Sally Mae Siso. Volleyball: Catmon Elementary School-Girls’ team, USPF- junior team. Weightlifting: Kelle Kaye Rojas, Angelica Lado, Reynante Briones

CITATION: Autocross: David G. Lim. Bowling: Kimberly Lao. Boxing: Milan Milendo. Baseball: Jesse Bernad. Beach volleyball: Johnrey Sasing. Football: Glenn Ramos, Christian Noel, Paolo Pascual, Carmelo Genco, Abellana National School, Oliver Colina. Mixed Martial Arts: Sabah Fadai, Renault Lao. Motocross: Siegfred Ornopia, Jon-Jon Adlawan.

Running: Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC), Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal III/Run For Sight Foundation. Sepak Takraw: Cebu Province-Sta. Fe team. Tennis: Larry Antigua, Jacob Lagman, Hannah Espinosa, Sallydine Siso, Bernardine Siso, Adrian Parangan. Volleyball: Talisay City women’s team, Catmon’s women’s team, Mandaue City men’s team, Liloan men’s team. Weightlifting: Joselito Padilla, Christopher Bureros. Wushu: Mary Stephanie Agbay.

To the awardees, if you have further questions, contact me at [email protected].

GenSan’s new name: “Manny Pacquiao City”

Romy S. DyPico did the unthinkable last Friday night. While attending the Rotary District Conference, Romy, the president of my club, the RC of Cebu West, scurried near the front stage and tiptoed to sit beside a lady for that one-click photo moment.

We were in General Santos City along with 1,200 other Rotarians from District 3860 when President Romy posed beside Ms. Seductive. Who was she? Mommy Dionisia.

The Discon was fun! Apart from attending the successful event (kudos to District Governor Tony Veneracion) and gorging on tuna in the Tuna Capital of the Philippines for four days until yesterday, we did one more act: we saw the empire of King Manny.

As soon as we landed in “Magandang Gensan” last Wednesday, our driver whisked us to see the city’s most publicized landmark: Pacman’s house. House? Sorry. It wasn’t; it was a mansion, a castle, a palace equipped with a blue pool that’s shaped after his red glove.

Both photos from Pinay Heart Wanderings and Musings

We visited Robinson’s. After lunch at Grab-A-Crab, we strolled along the mall’s corridors. Together with my Rotary club’s past presidents, Wilton Uykingtian, Maxwell Ahyong and Ronnie Medalle, I toured the Food Court. There, at the center, stood another landmark: Pacman Shawarma. Yes, like our beef-and-pita stands in Ayala and SM in Cebu, it was the same take-out food stall owned by a boxer who’s job is to take-out opponents.

Wilton Uykingtian in action

Next, we entered TEAM PACQUIAO. It was a museum and souvenir shop bundled into one. The white pair of shoes Manny wore against Juan Manuel Marquez sat on the open shelf. Everything MP was found there: mugs, towels, CDs and DVDs priced P99 and P150, keychains, a pair of Nike shoes worth P8,000. Picture frames of MP adorned the walls. A pair of boxing gloves with his signature could be yours for P15,000. There sat trophies, jackets, T-shirts with the words “Now You Know.” A Victorinox watch was priced P30,000.

Wilton, John, Maxwell and Ronnie

Right beside was Blue Gre Cafe. Known for its Durian Gatchpuccino, it’s owned by… now you know… Mr. and Mrs. Pacquiao. Next, we toured the city. One building stood out. The two-story structure was colorful, eye-catching, modern and named JMP Building after the initials of its owners.

For here’s what I witnessed: Manny P. has transformed himself into more than just the world’s No.1 boxer. He’s a promoter. An actor. A singer. A Rotarian honorary member of the RC of Midtown Gensan. A congressman? Most of all, he’s a businessman.

That’s what we saw, our group from the Rotary Club of Cebu West led by Past District Governor Toto Cupin, president Romy and his wife Julie, past president Ex Bollozos and his wife Cynthia, and our past president (and current District Trainer) Philip Tan.

Pacquiao has a myriad of ventures. There’s Pacman H20. Promoted as the “Pambansang Tubig,” Manny’s photo is on all the plastic water bottles. At the KCC mall, Jinkee has two stores: a fashion boutique and a franchise of the beauty clinic, Flawless. They also own a gas station. The JMP Bldg.? That’s Part One. There’s also JMP Bldg. 2 and, last Friday, after the dancing and revelry of the Rotary Discon party, we sojourned into the corner building along Aparente Avenue. On the ground floor of JMP 2, a collection of Manny’s photos lined the walls. At the corner was “Pacman Sports Bar,” a venue to drink while playing two of Manny’s favorite pastime games: billiards and darts. JMix is on the second level and, complete with dancing lights and ear-splitting music, it’s the newest disco-bar Gensan hangout.

To top all these, when our Rotary group toured the Fishport two afternoons ago, we passed a construction site. Located in Tambler, it reportedly costs P20 million and will house four buildings including a covered basketball court and a world-class boxing facility. It’s called the JMP Multi-Purpose Gymnasium.

Now, imagine if, seven days from this morning, Manny beats Joshua Clottey and, later this 2010, gifts ‘Money’ Mayweather with his first loss? Manny and his money will own the city.

Above photos from GenSan News Online Mag. Visit the website at GenSantos.com

Centurion

Today, Jack Mendez turns 45

He is my coach. My mentor. My Sunday-lunch drinking buddy. He is funny. Wise. Has street-smarts. He’s rich, was poor, is God-loving and forever generous. He’s a family man, a Rotarian, a disciplinarian.

Jacinto Villarosa Mendez was born on August 17, 1931. Which makes him, today, 45 years old, right? Right. Because never mind the math, it was this morning 45 years ago–on March 4, 1965–when he established what has endured as his legacy: the Centurion Security Agency, Inc.

Today, the company that owns .45-caliber pistols commemorates its Year No. 45. How many homegrown Cebu companies can claim this longevity?

Few. That’s because few people are like Jack Mendez. He wasn’t supposed to succeed. Born poor, he was raised poor. In elementary, he endured kilometers of walking on dirt roads to attend school. In college at the USC, he could barely afford to buy textbooks. When he stepped inside the library, he wore borrowed pants and, to support his studies, he mopped floors in exchange for free lodging.

Manny Pacquiao? Jack Mendez was the same: he lifted wood at the pier as kargador. And, on his final year at the USC law school, his father, a firewood dealer, decided that his brothers and sisters would stop school to allow him to graduate.

After passing the bar exams, he did what no other brand-new lawyer has possibly ever done: he became a security guard. While assigned at a furniture company in Manila where snakes crawled the premises at night, he squatted on table tops.

Yet, he endured. He persevered. He did not let his sorry state bruise his fate. Jack’s first job was with the SSS. Despite a stable job and lofty position as division head of the Claims and Benefits branch, he dreamed beyond the Social Security System. He longed to become an entrepreneur and daydreamed of establishing his own security business.

March 4, 1965. That was the moment. He named the business “Centurion.” As he envisioned, the start-up prospered. And the reason is simple: The owner was a former security guard. Who better to train and manage blue guards than a former security man himself? He understood the guard’s suffering of sleepless nights and the loneliness of working everyday, seven days from Thursdays to Wednesdays, including Christmas and Holy Week.

In those mid-1960s, guards were perceived to be “notorious” and “shady.” He aimed to change that stereotype into one where people would respect security personnel who were courteous, qualified and well-trained.

He did that. From one solitary guard when he started nearly half a century ago, the firm reached a peak of 1,500-strong men and women, back when they operated a second agency, Mensa (or Mendez Security Agency).

The company motto? It remains as enduring today as it was in 1965: “The Best Pay from the Best of Companies through the Best Service.”

True enough, CSAI became the best: 10 times it was adjudged the “Best Security Agency for Region 7” and, three times, it was awarded the “Most Outstanding Private Security Agency” of the Philippines.

Why, you ask, this story of Atty. Mendez on these back pages? Because, like metaphors, life and sports are alike. Difficulties? Challenges? Adversity? Are these not present both in our daily lives and in the lives of athletes?

The story of Jack is motivating. Be you an athlete or a non-sportsman, it defines what is one of the most powerful teachings in this whole universe: You. Can. Do. It.

For here’s the formula of life employed by Jack Mendez, now 78 years young: “Hardships are not meant to make us bitter.… but better.”

One more lesson he imparts? Laugh. Yes. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Laugh. Out loud. Win or lose, shout ha-ha-ha-ha. For life, and sports, is a struggle. But if you laugh at your own foibles and chuckle when problems arise, you’ll often succeed.

And so today, to the original Centurion, to my inspiration, to my father-in-law: Sir, I salute you.

Jasmin, John (back), Malu and Jack Mendez, and Atty. Michelle Palmares

PBA Finals

Thanks to the controversy last February 5, when Talk ‘N Text walked out of their game against Barangay Ginebra, my interest in the Philippine Basketball Association has intensified.

Remarkable showing by the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants. Having been down 1-2 in their best-of-seven semifinal series against San Miguel Beer, the Giants won three games in a row and, thus far in the KFC PBA Philippine Cup Finals, they’ve won another three straight. That’s 6-of-6.

Will it be Lucky 7 when Game 4 is contested tomorrow? Alaska Milk, highly-touted to have provided tough resistance to Purefoods, has faltered. In Game 2, they shouldn’t have lost. Leading by 13 points in the third quarter, they stumbled. Now they’re in a deep, dark hole. Can they win their first game? And, after that, maybe one more? To seize the momentum? Can they score four straight when no team ever in PBA history has come back from a 0-3 deficit?

Improbable. That’s as unlikely as Joshua Clottey scoring a knockout win versus our Filipino flag-bearer next Sunday.

But here’s a fact: A former University of San Jose Recoletos star player, a Cebuano named Roger Yap, has been the playoff’s best.

“‘He was really the brightest star who played with an incredible will to win,’ said Gregorio of Yap, who was named the undisputed KFC/Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period Feb. 15 to 21, quoting the official website PBA.com.ph.

Ramon Magsaysay Trek

Balamban Councilor Dave Karamihan, one of the wittiest and funniest men you’ll meet on this island, is once again at the helm of a noble project: the Paghandum ni Magsasay Annual Adventure Trek ’10. Held in commemoration of the 53rd death anniversary of Pres. Ramon Magsaysay, this annual climb runs from March 20 to 21 in Dave’s bailiwick called Balamban.

Paghandum ni Magsaysay Annual Adventure Trek ’10, 53rd Annual Commemoration of the Death of President Ramon Magsaysay, March 20-21, 2010, Mt. Manunggal, Barangay Magsaysay, Balamban, Cebu

The Annual Commemoration is actually on March 17. A simple wreath laying rite will be held in the crash site at 9:00 in the morning.

On March 20, Saturday, the weekend of festivities will kick off with the 5th Annual Paghandum ni Magsaysay (PNM) Adventure Race. This is a climbathon open to professional runners, weekend warriors, and locals. The race starts at the Welcome Arch of the Municipality of Balamban at the Transcentral Highway all the way to the crash site in Mt. Manunggal. There is also a Women’s category. The route is 17km (13Km for the Executive, Local, and Women categories) of partly concrete road, dirt road and mountain trails.

In the evening is the San Miguel Beer Night. A concert by various bands will be held in the campsite. Trekkers can have the chance to party with fellow mountaineers. Food and beverage stalls are situated all around.

On March 21, Sunday, the 7th Annual PNM Mountain Bike Challenge commences from Poblacion in Balamban with the finish line, likewise at the campsite in Mt. Manunggal.

The campsite has comfort room facilities and is fully secured by the local PNP. An ambulance and medic team is on standby 24/7.

Balamban dumptrucks will be picking up trekkers as early as 5Am in JY square in Cebu City. There will also be a pickup point in Balamban for local trekkers. These same dumptrucks will be ferrying trekkers on Sunday back to Cebu City and Balamban.

Paghandum ni Magsasay Annual Adventure Trek ‘09
53rd Death Anniversary of President Ramon Magsaysay Sr.

The aim of this event is to showcase the beauty and the eco-tourism potential of Mt. Manunggal and its environs. Before, it was just the hardcore mountaineers who can get to this place and set up camp. Over the years, an access road has been laid out and comfort room facilities added, more and more weekend warriors or families who just want to go on a picnic have started trickling in.

Through all these events that are lined up for the commemoration of the death of a beloved president year in and out, we may be able to put Manunggal in the map of must see destinations for foreign and local tourists alike in Cebu. This could help out in both ways: more economic activity in the area, and more consciousness on environmental issues for locals as they would tend to take care of their resources more to keep tourists coming in.

Nobody really knows how this adventure trek started. Some say, it was the mountaineers who like spending their March 17 weekends atop Mt. Manunggal and integrate themselves with the locals. Some say it was the University of San Jose Recoletos volunteers who started some outreach programs (they even constructed a chapel near the monument) —and continues to do so— since several years ago.

One thing definite is, this all started with a mountain, which happened to embrace a great man in his death. It is ironic, that with Magsaysay’s death, a new life is born. A new life for the constituents of Barangay Gaas and Manunggal.

That is our goal and our promise.

Winter Olympics

One of my favorite websites is The Big Picture by Boston.com. They publish photos that are, as its name explains, BIG. Check out a few Winter Olympics photos below and visit their website here.

For more, visit The Big Picture by Boston.com

Hong Kong

Congratulations to several Cebuanos who joined last Sunday’s race. No, the run didn’t start at the Cebu Business Park and it wasn’t a 5K. It was the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon.

Roy and Dr. Rosan Trani finished. So did 42K first-timer Kenneth Toledo, Dr. Emily Estrada, Dr. Alex Junia and Dodong Sulatre, who clocked an impressive 4:24.

Best of all, Mendel Lopez, an awardee this March 11 during the 28th SAC-SMB Cebu Sports Awards, scored a standout finish: Of the thousands who participated in the 21K race, Mendel placed 3rd. A Japanese arrived first, an Italian second (only five seconds ahead of Mendel), then our very own Cebuano.

The past two Februarys in HK, Mendel placed fourth. Now, he’s climbed one step higher. And given that this race attracts a mix of global runners that would make the United Nations smile, this was a remarkable performance. Congratulations!