Iloilo odyssey

If you miss my column last week, well I was so busy with my Iloilo and Bacolod Odyssey. I couldn’t squeeze a little time to write.  Anyway, I was in IloIlo for the Jaro Candelaria Fiesta (Our Lady of Candles), perhaps the most popular fiesta in the country.  I was born in Jaro which is one of the most affluent districts in the City.  Some of the majestic mansions in Jaro include the Lizares and Nelly Garden.  Jaro is also the birthplace of my relative, journalist Graciano Lopez Jaena, who was a thorn in the Spanish government because of his writings that include the famous La Solidaridad. “Sa iyaha man siguro ako niliwat”. The statue of the Virgin in the Jaro cathedral has grown several inches taller and had to be taken out of its original casing.  Senator Grace Poe was found in the Jaro baptismal room where she was abandoned. Cockfighting in Jaro is perhaps the most famous in the country as it lasts for days.  The day I left for Bacolod,the first leg of the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2019 was set to start at the Megaworld Festive Walk Mall.  Top seed of the race is Ronald Oranza of Navy Standard Insurance. A week earlier, a Dinagyang Ultramarathon was staged.  The next day I was off to Bacolod City to visit our resto outlet in the newly-opened Ayala Mall. My relatives gave me tickets to the Ceres-Myanmar Football game but I  had to go back to Cebu.

Just before I left forCebu I was invited by my pianist friend Dan Garganera to perform a few Elvis songs at the Imperial Grand Meng Seng Hotel which was marking Chinese New Year.

Overprice?

After no takers on his “outrageous demands”, New Orleans Pelicans star Anthony Davis played his first game after sitting for sometime.  To recall, Davis wanted out of the Pelicans and demanded for a trade.  The Los Angeles Lakers was willing to part with the rising players that include Kyle Kuzma, Lorenzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart, Ivica Zubac, Kentavions Cadwell- Pope as well as two first round picks.  However, the Pelicans wanted more, demanding between six to eight draft picks. Okay, the Lakers are willing to give up its future champion team to one person but what if that player gets injured? If you ask me, it’s no deal. Lakers president of basketball operation Magic Johnson later said they  re not giving in  to the Pelicans demand.  “Sobra kamahal wala nay mopalit”.

Happy valentines!

A lot of people ask me what is my memories of Valentines day.

St. Valentines Massacre (1939) Chicago gangster Al Capone ordered the killing of seven men who were members of a rival mob. The men were lined against the wall and mowed down by machine guns.

Valentines Day 2013

Oscar Pisturius of South Africa ,the first amputee to compete in the Olympics (using prosthetics, thus the nickname the Blade Runner) shot his girlfriend, model Reeva Steen Kamp in his Pretoria, SA home on February 14, 2013.  Pistorius claimed he killed Reeva by accident. The courts however found him guilty of murder but only got six years in prison.