by Moses Billacura
Castrol Philippines, which has been providing quality lubricants worldwide, has come in as a major backer of Davao City High Batch 81’s Scholarship Run in October.
Castrol officials saw the opportunity to be of help to Batch 81 which has been funding deserving students to stay in high school and finish vocational courses that are needed abroad.
Thanks Castrol!
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Dr. Arlene de Vera was forced to reset the WNCAA Mindanao Cheerleading Training Seminar and the Mindanao Sports Management Seminar from Aug.18-20 to Sept.15-17 because of requests from participants.
Well, the more participants, the merrier.
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Columbia Computer Center Football Club is joining the Smart Inter-Club Championships on August 9 to 13 in Iloilo City.
Coach Albert Ryan “Abing” Lim will have his hands full when they face tough opponents like host Stallions FC which has some Korean standouts from Central Philippine University, Pechanga FC of NCR and Baguio-Benguet FC.
Davao will try to advance to the crossover semis on August 16-17 at the University of Makati Stadium and from there hope to get into the finals on Aug.20 and 23.
Smart Communications has invested P80 million for a long-term football development and the Smart Club Championships is just one of the leagues being funded after getting the nod of its chairman Manny V. Pangilinan, better known in business and sports circles as MVP.
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MVP, the chairman of PLDT, boss of ABC/TV5, Cignal Digital TV, Smart Communications and major backer of San Beda, Ateneo de Manila and Talk ‘N Text basketball teams,is also the big boss of the country’s amateur basketball governing body, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP).
Last week, despite his hectic schedule, he found time to congratulate his SBP regional director for Southern Mindanao, Regino “Boy” Cua, for a job well done.
One of MVP’s lieutenants was in town to attend to a referee’s seminar and accreditation that recorded the highest number of participants in recent memory, 276 total.
MVP got the information and that explains why he praised the regional director who for years has been serving amateur basketball with honor.
You see, since 1998, Boy has been “crazy” about amateur basketball development.
He started sponsoring referees’ seminars by funding the needs of international referees from Manila conducting the courses in Davao, ordering balls from Sunsport Cebu and donating them to schools, subsidizing the expenses of FIBA rule books for referees, facilitating the holding of other leagues with the help of other businessmen who share his same passion for the sport, acting as arbitrator on numerous conflicts that included the “memorable” inter-media basketball squabble and even spearheaded a team of Ateneo parents to give a high school team the chance to play in international tournaments, not just once, but three times. First it was in Thailand, followed by Singapore and finally in Australia.
Mr. Pangilinan would love to see if in othe regions in the country, there will be regional directors who would serve the sport the way Mr. Cua does.
“I hope the other SBP Regions will emulate you,” said MVP in a text message.
This only confirms that MVP has high respect for the Davao businessman, who, for reasons, I don’t know, has been subjected to intrigues by assholes in the basketball community.
MVP would definitely respect Mr. Cua because he knows that his regional director does not, in anyway, shape or form, make money out of basketball development unlike those who claim to be contributors or development workers for the sport.
Back off guys! I even suggest you don’t get yourselves involved in basketball for it would be a shame to the basketball family. Focus on other things and leave basketball development to those who value honor and credibility.
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Happy birthday to Nadia Pulcova, Josephine Dulalas White and Tessa Moreno, all ladies with a lovely heart and get well soon Aileen Soriano-Gajo of NCCC Mall.
