Clean up

Going south to Moalboal last Saturday was worth all the effort to make it there despite having to wake up early to beat a deadline for the Motoring Section of this paper and driving off quite late in the morning.

Moalboal is about 80 kilometers from the place I call home, but what should have easily been a drive that would take a little over an hour, was stretched several minutes longer due to traffic in Carcar City and the road work in Barili. 

The trip is also very scenic, so there are several areas where you have to take your foot a little off the accelerator to enjoy the beauty of nature.

Moalboal has a shoreline that features natural white sand. It was only the second time that I have been to the place and the experience has always been pleasant.

Last weekend, I wasn’t there to bask under the sun and enjoy the seawaters. I was there for the Visayas Regionals of the Nestea Beach Volley event.

But before heading off to HK Beach, I had lunch with fellow officers of the Cebu Volleyball Association (CEVA) – President Jun San Juan and Vice President Andrew Choachuy – and members of their family. My family members in the group were two reporters of the paper, who were in Moalboal to cover the event.

I believe I burned so many calories during the drive south that I had to make up for what was lost by eating a lot of the very delicious humba cooked by Marichu Jao-San Juan, Jun’s better half.

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The Nestea Beach Volley event brought many people to Moalboal that you don’t feel like a stranger in the place.

Many of the people at the audience were also from the city, but there were also several, who were not your regulars at the volleyball events.

So much has been written about the competition and its side events and I would like to make special mention of the effort exerted by the organizers to ensure that they clean up the place.

There are always those people, who have very little regard for cleanliness and just throw their trash anywhere, but the announcers – Nonna Catipay and Eric Le Cain, kept on reminding the people to pick up the trash and put them in the bins and trash bags provided around the venue.

I hope organizers of other sporting events would follow the good example in Moalboal.

A lot of people complain to me about the trash left after sporting events, which is very sad. Sports activities are supposed to teach discipline and part of that discipline is disposing of trash properly.

The organizers of the Nestea Beach Volley did very well on that aspect and we should also applaud them for that.

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MILESTONES: Belated happy birthday greetings go to my cousin Ethel Lebumfacil-Alvarez, Gina Arjona, Jo Ann Castillo, and Ivy Cortez, who all turned a year older last Monday.