Raffy Uytiepo

CEBU, Philippines - I took a quick trip to IloIlo City over  the weekend to attend to corporate business and likewise  check the music and sports scenes.  I’m really amazed with the massive road expansions which Cebu and other metro cities in the country would envy.  Some 10 kilometers of an eight lane street is nearing completion, and the beauty of it all  is that  it has  big bike lanes and jogging or walking paths.  IloIlo also boasts of the Explanade,  a one- kilometer jogging  stretch along the IloIlo River.  The other side of the river will also have a jogging path and is almost finished.  Buildings are sprouting all over the City with the state of the art IloIlo  Convention Center as centerpiece.  Gaisano is building a big mall near SM City which is also expanding.  Sports is much alive especially running.   The Nike Pharmaton 10K run which I organized, was  the only race in IloIlo in the 1990’s.  I also organized the Adlaw  sang IloIlo 21K half-marathon and the Halloween Run.  Of course, IloIlo is home to some of the country’s greatest runners.  Three-time Milo Marathon champion Jimmy Dela Torre.  Barcelona Olympian and SEA Games champion Herman Suizo, London Olympian  Rene Herrera, sprinters Ernie Candelario, John Lozada, Sean Guevara, all Sea Games gold medalists, Inocencia Solis and one-legged triathlete Rudy Fernandez.  Today, running events are taking place almost everyweek.  My protege’ Boyet Rentoy is also  keeping the ultramarathon alive.  In fact, he’s staging the 80K 3rd  Guimaras  Ultramarathon on May 16 and is inviting Cebu ultra runners.  Well, I’m glad my efforts paid off.

SAC awards

Congratulations to all awardees of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu especially to my “kababayan” Donnie Nietes.  One funny incident during the start of the program was that the sound system operator didn’t have a Pambansang Awit cd.   Emcee  John  Pages requested Elvisaya if he could sing the anthem who at first was hesitant as he might miss some lines being used  to singing “The Star Spangled Banner.”  With  nobody else volunteering to sing,  Elvisaya was forced to led the group composed of SAC president Rico Navarro, Jingo Quijano, Jonas Panerio and John.  Thank God the Jordanaires did’nt miss a line.  Elvisaya later belted  “Dont Be Cruel” and “It’s Now or Never” which he dedicated  to Sir Dodong Gullas, the guest speaker of the event.

Did you know?

• Jet Li studied martial arts at age 7 to overcome a sickly childhood.  At 11, performed at the Nixon White House.  He won  four gold medals in wushu for China in world tournaments.  In the movie Lethal Weapon 4, he was not included in the print ads posters.  When his fans deluged the movies web site with complaints, he was included with the five heroes, even though he played “kontrabida”.

NOTE:   My  nephew Lek won a million dollars in a Los Angeles lottery recently.  He went  on a spending spree but not before he bought two tickets worth $30,000 to the Paquiao- Mayweather  fight.  His mother said he bought 3 cars thereafter. (FREEMAN)