In Huddle
Cabinet man, politician maul golfer, dad
By Beth Celis
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:42:00 12/27/2008
Filed Under: People, Basketball, Golf
MANILA, Philippines—Harbour Centre’s Mikee Romero should be at the Araneta Coliseum tonight to watch the game between Purefoods and Air21.
If confidential reports are accurate, Mikee is set to take over the running of the Lina franchise in the PBA second conference, which starts March of next year.
Looks like Mikee is starting to get his feet wet. He was at the Big Dome on Christmas day for the Talk ‘N Text-Air21 match. He was seated at the commissioner’s row with Harbour team manager Erick Arejola.
If he was rooting for one of the teams, Mikee didn’t give himself away.
The two left immediately after the first game.
* * *
If Mikee shows up at The Big Dome on Saturday night, for sure something big must really be cooking.
From what I gathered, Cyrus Baguio and Celino Cruz were his personal choices for Air21. Which is why I expect him to witness the debut of Cyrus on Saturday night.
Celino will not be able to suit up as yet because of an injury.
* * *
With Cyrus and Celino out of Red Bull, what will happen to the team next conference?
This was the very same question I asked a Red Bull insider Saturday, hoping that I could get a clear indication concerning the fate of the Chua franchise.
According to the insider, the plan is to maintain a competitive but low-budget team indefinitely.
“But there could be some changes. I will know for sure after tonight’s meeting with top management,” he said.
Speaking of meetings, I understand that PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios had one recently with Tony Chua of Red Bull and Lito Alvarez of Air21.
For sure they talked about the trade. But did they also talk about the mechanics of franchise sales, change of team names and the like?
* * *
I received a frantic phone call the other night from a former high school classmate at St. Joseph’s College whose daughter is a jungolfer.
She was a bit incoherent but from what I gathered, a violent incident involving a politician and his father, who is a cabinet secretary, and the family of a fellow-jungolfer had occurred earlier that afternoon.
“They were at the Valley golf course, it was a misunderstanding in schedule. There was a heated argument, and then the politician and his bodyguards started pouncing on the helpless 56-year-old father of the jungolfer. The boy begged for them to stop beating his father, but what they did, instead, was turn their ire on the boy, drawing their guns. He was bleeding in the ears when he broke free,” she related.
A more detailed report was sent via e-mail by the victims but I need to get the side of the politician before I reveal their identities.
* * *
Back from a swimming competition in Bangkok, I expected coach Susan Papa to announce the result of the meet when she dropped by my house.
Instead, Susan consulted me on a religious matter.
She wanted to know if she had broken a panata or vow to attend simbang gabi which she had kept for two decades.
“It so happened that we were in Bangkok on the first night of the simbang gabi, and could not find a catholic church that offered such a service. After making inquiries with the Filipino community to no avail, the next best thing we could do was attend a 7 p.m. mass scheduled on the eve of the first day of the simbang gabi series. We figured that it could take the place of the actual simbang gabi,” Susan related.
That night, they were picked up by a cab and brought to the church where there were quite a number of people in attendance, mostly Thais.
“There were so many people we had to take the back pew. The altar was filled with flowers. The mass had been going on for sometime when we noticed that some people were crying. We wondered why. The homily was delivered in Thai and we could not understand. That’s when we saw a part of the casket which we did not see at first because it was covered by flowers. It was a mass for the dead that we had attended. All the hair in my body stood when I realized this. My question is, did I break my panata?”
* * *
The Taccad clan of Cagayan is holding its first-ever reunion in Tumauini on Saturday. Gift distribution and games will highlight the activities lined up by organizer Edgar Taccad of the GSIS.
|
