Worth all the hard work

We welcomed the 30 winners of our annual Christmas Contest for the awarding of prizes at Starbucks in Molito, Alabang, last Sunday and it was a wonderful gathering of sports lovers from all over the country and even abroad.

Gulliver Banares, 35, took the 14th place prize and flew in the day before from Selangor, Malaysia where he works with BGMC Corp. Gulliver, who earned a Mechanical Engineering degree at Adamson, has been an OFW for six years and comes home twice a year for a maximum of 10 days each vacation. He and wife Esmeralda have two daughters, 16 and 11. It was perfect timing that Gulliver was in town for a home leave.

Another winner Sharon Agduma Wettlaufer, 38, sent her entry just minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline (Manila time) last Dec. 13. She’s a secondary secretary and consul with the Philippine Permanent Mission to the UN and other IOs in Geneva. Sharon is married to a German and has been based in Switzerland for six years. She keeps track of developments in Philippine sports and is due for a home visit next month. In her absence, her mother Thelma Agduma and brother Tim received her third place prize of P20,000 cash, P2,000 SM gift certificate, Chooks To Go gift certificate, a 16-inch stand fan and a sackful of products.

Michael Gumagay, 37, left Subic, where he works with the Aboitiz Construction Site Office, at 2 a.m. to make it to Molito way ahead of schedule accompanied by two friends. It didn’t take that long for Dr. Romano Obmerga, a 39-year-old pathologist, to drive from his home in Sto. Tomas, Batangas or Rafaelito Limjoco, 62, to arrive from Lian, also in Batangas.  Gumagay was the 22nd place prize winner, Obmerga the 20th and Limjoco, the 26th.

Kasambahay Leonor Fababeir, 48, couldn’t believe her luck in claiming her eighth place prize of P8,000, Chooks To Go gift certificate and a sackful of products. Her cash prize was about what she makes in a month as a housekeeper in Kamuning. Leonardo Aran, 67, is a retired government employee who used to work for Gov. Ito Ynares in Rizal. A die-hard FEU supporter, Leonardo has lost count of how many of our contests he has joined and won prizes from. He woke up early Sunday morning for Simbang Gabi in Binangonan where he lives and after receiving his P4,000 cash prize and bagful of products, went to nearby St. Jerome Emiliani and Sta. Susana Parish in Muntinlupa for a thanksgiving prayer to the Lord.

Nicholson Tee, 23, took the ninth place prize. Nicholson’s a campus missionary assigned at UE where he studied from elementary to college. The 10th prize winner Teodoro Hernando Jr., 55, works at the Supreme Court. Both Nicholson and Teodoro took home P8,000 each, Chooks To Go gift certificate and a sackful of products. Joe Louis Lahom, 27, won the 18th place prize and said his father was a big Brown Bomber fan so he was named after the former world heavyweight boxing champion.

Second place prize winner John Paul Tanyag, 27, received P30,000 cash, P2,000 SM gift certificate, P2,000 Planet Sports gift certificate, Chooks To Go gift certificate, a 16-inch Union stand fan, a free overnight stay with breakfast at Hotel Benilde Maison De La Salle and a sackful of products. John is a market analyst at the Philippine Stock Exchange and is a year away from gaining a Master’s degree in Finance at De La Salle. He finished with an Applied Math degree at PUP. One of four children, John is the second oldest and is the breadwinner of the family with his father now retired and mother passed away in 2012. He’s treating his father to the overnight stay at Hotel Benilde.

John signed up for 10 days to work as volunteer leader attending to Filipino athletes in the Manila hub at the recent SEA Games. He took a semester off from his Master’s studies to focus on the SEA Games. “Chris Tiu was the overall volunteer leader and inspired us to work as hard as we could to bring honor to our country,” he said. “It was a lot of hard work and sleepless nights but all worth it. I was lucky to interact with not only our Filipino athletes but also athletes from other countries. I was amazed at Margie Didal, our skateboarding gold medalist. When she came to pick up her uniform, Margie was like any ordinary girl, kulit, humble, friendly. The athlete whom I watched live and was impressed with was gymnast Caloy Yulo. Luckily, I saw him perform because I was assigned in Manila. I also got to watch our Gilas men’s basketball team play Myanmar.”

A requirement in our Christmas contest was each entry had to submit an essay of not more than three sentences on “The Significance of Hosting the SEA Games.” Here is John’s essay: “Our hosting of the SEA Games highlighted two things: our unique hospitality and our passion as sports fans. It was worth the effort and cost since it was a great investment towards sports development necessary for our athletes. And as one of the SEA Games volunteers, I can firmly attest to the bayanihan spirit that we all did, proving to the world that ‘We Win As One!’”