Christmas spirit

The spirit of Christmas is in the air. It is not the giant Christmas trees, not the lights, nor the extended shopping hours at the malls that is making us feel the season.

It is Christmas because we see many people coming forward and offering a helping hand to the victims of the floods wrought by typhoon Sendong in Northern Mindanao and in Negros.

Seeing all the people go out of their way to gather stuff that they can donate or cutting their budgets for shopping and other stuff to give to the victims, is the true spirit of Christmas.

If only we Filipinos can always unite, this country would be greater than what it is now.

Seeing this sense of unity among us Filipinos should make us proud to be part of this nation despite the flaws and the failures, both natural and man-made, that we have to deal with.

I hope that after all this frenzy we can once again unite to address the matters that would prevent similar catastrophes in the future.

* * *

I was shuttling between the Cebu International Convention Center and Kartzone last Saturday due to two major sporting events that were taking place at the same time.

The CICC hosted the championship games of the 7th Gov. Gwen Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup while Kartzone was the venue of the 6-hour Endurance Race.

The CICC was packed full last Saturday as people flocked to watch the games starting with the men’s championship in the morning.

The crowd got even bigger in the afternoon as even the area below the temporary bleachers that were set up at the CICC Summit Hall was already occupied by the audience several people deep.

I hope we could hold more events in the future no matter who sits at Capitol or in other local government units.

What the sport has gained the past seven years through the GUV Cup would be a big waste if not continued.

* * *

The Endurance Race was a test of the capability of the karts and a team composed of four karters and a media guest.

After six hours, Team Carcel emerged as the winner with a total of 601 laps.

The winning team was manned by siblings Tonyo and Kali Carcel, Patrick Gandiongco, Chino Macachor, and Sonny Alo.

Second place went to Team Hilton manned by Peterson Lim, Wally Lim, Wilson Ong, Ernie Miranda, and Hans Lorenz with 564 laps.

Team Tiktilaok-Radical Ads composed of Lord Seno, Ray Tan, Dr. Clive Fermin, Frederick Cortes, and this deadline beater finished third. Our team logged a total of 571 laps, but was slapped an eight-lap penalty for running the kart on unsafe conditions, said Kym Limengco, due to a side pod that fell off.

It took eight laps before the kart was brought to the pit stop to fix the repair.

Next year, I think it can only get better.

* * *

MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to those who turned a year older last Monday like Vincent Torrefranca, Ambec Javillo, Christy Manguerra, Miraflor Yu-Labares, Nicole Lorenzana, and Sarah Salera.

The same goes to my brother Nino Paolo, who celebrated yesterday, and also to Lilian Jordan-Frasco of Titay’s, and Eleuterio Cabardo, Jr.

Today’s greetings go to Carlo Fortuna, Gehmar Sevilla, Eric Vincent Casas, and Mimi Alazas.

More power to all of you!