Gines birdied the first, second and fourth holes to gain enough cushion for a 37 in the backnine as the former national team member drew level with Clavecilla after the opening round with a two-stroke lead over defending champion Marlon Dizon of Wack Wack and another host club bet Juvic Pagunsan.
Clavecilla lost two strokes early on a double-bogey mishap on No. 2 but rallied with birdies on Nos. 4, 5, 9 and 14 for a 35-35 round.
Canlubang teammates Ruby Walker and Lucy Landicho fired three-over 75s to show the way in the ladies’ division while Dave Hernandez of Calatagan carded a one-over 73 to pace the men’s group II competition.
Canlubang entries Carmelette Villaroman and Mari Hechanova were breathing down the leaders’ necks in ladies and men’s group II with a 77 and a 74, respectively.
Gines got off to a good start that he even went four under on two occasions only to fumble what could have been solo leadership at the end of the round with a sorry bogey-bogey finish.
Still, Gines outclassed the field that included SEA Games-bound national players Pagunsan, Jay Bayron (36-39), Boyet Saragoza (36-42) and Marvin Dumandan (40-40).
Bayron was tied with Hanson So (37-38) at sixth place, trailing Gines, Clavecilla, Dizon (36-36), Pagunsan (36-36) and Ronnie Torrecampo (36-37).
A shot behind Bayron and So was Rolly Viray (38-38), then came Saragoza, Jong Laput (38-40) and Raymund Sangil (38-40).