My mistah, Lt. Col. (very soon Col.) Romeo Racadio of the Philippine Marines was in Cebu for a quick vacation with his family.
Romy, who is also called Rock by our classmates at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) is now with the special division of the Philippine Navy handling the athletes and coaches of the national team.
Due to a very tight schedule, we managed to meet up for breakfast a few hours before they flew back to Manila.
When classmates meet, we talk of those days when we were plebes (fourthclass cadets), but yesterday we also talked about a more serious topic – grassroots sports development.
Among his duties in his new position, is to supervise the members of the national team, who are enlisted with the Philippine Navy.
I told him about my long time dream of having retired national athletes return to their home provinces to teach the young athletes.
He believes this is very possible and he is also encouraging those who made it to the Philippine team to enlist with the Navy if they are qualified to do so.
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One of the sports that the Navy is now strongly pushing is Dragon Boat Racing.
Romy said that the Navy team just competed in a recent event in Boracay and they hope to push the sport in Cebu.
Dragon Boat racing is very popular internationally and is a sport that Filipinos have the capability to be very good at.
More importantly, there are also many places where we can practice rowing in our archipelago.
Many years ago, I told Romy, that I wrote about how we should be good at rowing, because this skill will not only win us gold medals in the international competitions, but also could save our lives during disasters.
If you can remember, members of the Philippine Dragon Boat team were among those who helped rescue the flood victims in Luzon.
I am looking forward to seeing the members of the Philippine Navy Dragon Boat team hold clinics and encourage the Cebuanos to pick up the sport.
I hope we get support from both the government and private sector to make this happen soon.
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Our family would like to thank everyone, who shared in our grief during the passing away of my grandfather Silverio ‘Siling’ Espina Lebumfacil, who was finally laid to rest last Sunday at the Toledo City Cemetery.
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MILESTONES: The first two days of May are very special to my family. Yesterday was the 10th birthday of my daughter, Nina Andrea, who we fondly call Andi, and today we celebrate the birth anniversary of my father Nonilon Frasco Quiñones.
Belated birthday greetings go to Anthony Chupungco, Darmae Maningo-Tan, and Lino Dagus, who celebrate last Monday.
The same go to May Christina ‘Mic-mic’ Bugash, Marcianne May Dizon, and Davao-based sports editor Jon Develos, who turned a year older yesterday.
Today’s greetings go to Chassy Cortes, Shelamay Montenegro, Mary Louise Laurel, Armi Lou Rovillos, Ronald Hipolito, May Estimo-Viado, and Estela Pace.
More power to all of you!