Lake Sebu

The Tilapia farm complete with Giant Tilapia float

There is something different whenever i go back to Southern Mindanao. Seeing the General Santos City airport and going to Koronadal city really brings back memories of a past involvement. Five years have gone so fast that I am even thinking, "when was the last time I visited this haven?" Then it came to me - the 10th NYC back in 2005 and that was the last.

Can't decide

Back in 2002 I was a frequent visitor of General Santos City because of a person very dear to me. Unfortunately the relationship did not prosper in the manner I dreamed of. Luckily, the times we shared together were so precious that the places we would frequent makes me go back in time and cherish the memory of those happy days.

Chicharong Balat ng Tilapia

One of the most memorable places we went to was a place in Surallah South Cotabato called Lake Sebu. One of the most popular resorts that we go to there was a place called Punta Isla. The Lake in Lake Sebu has become popular because of the Tilapia farm and the variety of tilapia dishes that can be found in the resorts in Lake Sebu. My personal favorite is the Kinilaw na tilapia and the Crispy Balat ng tilapia chicharon. Talking about them alone makes me drool while I write this blog.

THE NYC Team

Koronadal South Cotabato was the venue of the 2007 Palarong Pambansa and has since then improved their city's resources. Lake Sebu has also benefitted from this and that is why South Cotabato Officials are really pushing for tourists to visit the place. I am just privileged that my job every so often makes me visit places that I might have never visited if I were in another company. If you are on a trek to the southern part of Mindanao, specially in south Cotabato, Lake Sebu is a place that you should not miss going to.

The family I left behind...etching

Tita Josie sleeps peacefully

"... My sister Michelle was just 15 when our father died, I was 23 and my other brothers were still in College...our family including my mom was devastated by the loss of our father 20 years ago." said Chris Lichauco, the oldest son of former Secretary of Transportation Josie Lichauco who died sunday morning after having a heart attack in Hong Kong two weeks ago.

The Lichaucos were like brothers to me. We grew to have great ties and friendships after being active in the Days with the Lord in College. Martin and Sandy were always very approachable and would always greet you with a ready smile. Same with their younger sister Michelle who is Martin with long hair. Tita Josie will be missed and I hope that the Lichauco's would not suffer long in accepting the death of Tita Josie. She will really be happy for she raised great kids, great friends, great persons.

15th NYC Video

My Entrance Dance number

for the 15th NYC

at the SMX Convention Center

Featured game: STI Quezon Ave wins in overtime

William Vasallo of STI College QA on a follow up

The STI College Quezon Ave. cagers was last year's version of the heartbreak kids. This year they want to bounce back to erase that monicker and build their own as the comeback kids. That monicker proved to be their rallying point as they beat the team that booted them out from the top three - STI College Global City 101-99 in overtime. Arvin Sarmiento led the onslaught of points as he led all scorers with 26 points, most of them in the fourth quarter.

Wynard Sultan on the fastbreak

Former Olympian Macky Macabasco and former STI Basketball Showdown MVP William Vasallo also carried the fight for the Quezon ave dribblers who were trailing most of the first half. Vasallo calmly sank three pointers while Macabasco's leadership was what got them back to the game. Ervin Magistrado, Rogie Trunio and new recruit Charlon Untalan also scored in double figures to give the QA cagers a balanced attack.

Macky Macabasco scores on a lay up

Down by 8 points in the fourth quarter, 86-78, the home team from Global City did not give up as they uncorked a paralyzing 11-5 run to catch up with the Quezon Avenue dribblers at 91-all. Do it all forward Wynard Sultan carried the fight for the home team as he scored 21 big points with a ton of them on drives to the hope and fastbreaks. Ably backing him up are Avila with 20 points, Shifty guard Mamangon with 13 points, burly forward Magsalos with 11 points, Sarmiento with 10 points and their point guard Oyama who contributed 9 points. Sultan also added 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

Arvin Sarmiento on a difficult drive

In other games, STI College Santa Rosa got another rout as they gave STI College Novaliches a sound beating 110 - 60. Parala and Cruz led the The Santa Rosa squad which is the only other unbeaten team in the tournament with 18 and 17 points respectively. STI College Balagtas bounced back from its opening day loss to Santa Rosa with a statement win over STI College Marikina 82 - 65. Pascual and Chow King Yee both scored 16 points each to underscore the strength of the Balagatas team which features two up and coming Olympians. In the battle of two unbeaten teams, STI College Muñoz came up on top with a 68-63 win over STI College Taft. Songculan and Benigno each had 12 points to offset the 25 point performance of Taft guard Jazzy Vergara. STI College Santa Rosa and Quezon Ave. lead the way with 2 wins and no losses while Balagtas, Global City, Marikina and Munoz are now 1-1 while Taft and Novaliches are 0-2.

Wynard Sultan and Jay Ramirez block Rogie Trunio

The box scores

GAME 1

STI COLLEGE QUEZON AVE (101) Sarmiento 26, Macabasco 17, Magistrado 14, Vasallo 14, Trunio 12, Untalan 10, Panganiban 4, Jamero 2, Bilog 0,

STI COLLEGE GLOBAL CITY (99) Sultan 21, Avila 20, Mamangon 13, Magsalos 11, Sarmiento 10, Oyama 9, de Belen 5, Ramirez 4, Tabug 2, Becares 2, Fajardo 2, Saltiga 0, Cruz 0

GAME 2

STI COLLEGE MUNOZ (68) Benigno 12, Songculan 12, Malbueso 9, ALejandrino 9, Yu 7, Giron 6, Losanez 6, Feliciano 3, Cabisang 2, Dantes 2

STI COLLEGE TAFT (63) Vergara 25, Enriquez 8, Sandajan 7, Bondad 5, Toledo 4, Wabe 4, Libarios 4, Tolsa 4, Yabut 2, Parafina 0, David 0, Padlan 0, Hapton 0,

GAME 3

STI COLLEGE BALAGTAS (82) Pascual 16, Yee 16, A. dela Cruz 7, R. dela Cruz 6, Cruz 5, Macapagal 5, Querubin 5, Crisostomo 5, Pepito 5, Ablaza 4, Leguin 4, Baliclic 4, Villadoz 0, Somontina 0

STI COLLEGE MARIKINA (65) Nayle 26, Centrillo 17, H. Torres 7, Cruz 6, Torres 3, Caderal 0, Olanada 0, Fontanilla 0, Espiritu 0, Cabales 0

GAME 4

STI COLLEGE SANTA ROSA (110) Parala 18, Cruz 17, Reyes 14, Salamat 8, Maunahan 8, Manabat 7, Balmaceda 7, Batisan 7, Santos 7, Ferrer 6, Baniqued 6, Lacsina 5, Arzola 0

STI COLLEGE NOVALICHES (60) Escosia 16, Canlas 15, Obosa 9, Tungol 6, Auingan 4, Lim 4, dela Cruz 2, Katon 2, Ordiz 1, Oraa 1, Enriquez 0, Soriano 0

STI 15th NYC in Metro Manila

They came in droves. 18,000 STIers braved the Metro Manila traffic as the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City became the Mecca of STI faithfuls who witnessed the STI 15th National Youth Convention. Forty STI Colleges from Metro Manila and nearby environs were at hand to witness this spectacular roadshow presentation that featured a bounty of things to learn.

As mentioned over and over again, this is STI's claim to fame, STI is the only school that conducts a nationwide convention for its students. This convention is also a testimony of how STI has grown in the past years. The influx of students that flocked the SMX Convention Center is simply something that no other school in the Philippines can match. So lets just brand these two days STI DAYS!

The Convention included a powerhouse cast of veteran speakers and guests. First to present were members of the Globe Labs team from the Telecommunications industry Globe. Greg Igaya and Sherwin Sowy took turns to give their side on how Globe Labs , an innovation driven group, can shape their future. At the same time, their various takes on innovation showed that Globe Telecom is really in a look out for that technological breakthrough that Filipinos might discover. Who knows, STI Students might be the ones who can do that.

Veteran inspirational and motivational speaker Pido Aguilar took the second topic with much gusto. His take on how STI students can become influential is one for the books. Summarizing it into three important components his Give, Receive and Spread speech gave STI students a better perspective on how they can become modern day heroes. His song Bayani Ka is still playing over my head as I write this blog. Finally, Internationally acclaimed speaker Dennis Evangelista anchored the convention with his zany antics and one of a kind take on how STI students can be hired. The life of Mr Evangelista is a living testament that we can all succeed if we want to. I believe that a lot of STIers will be talking about him for a long long time.

Providing entertainment were the 2009 STI Talent search champions. 2009 STI Idol Grand Champion Charmaine Nodado of STI College Las Piñas left the crowd in awe with her one of a kind rendition of "My Redeemer lives!" I kept reminding everyone that it was an invocation Hymn but the crowd still clapped after she sang. My back up dancers are the Katz Republic, the 2009 Grand National Champion, who also gave one intermission number. Providing additional entertainment are three good looking commercial model artists - Neil Coleta, JR De Guzman and Enz Guazon. The crowd really loved their performance. This one is now finished and I hope that next year we can top it again.

15th NYC Practice

One of the hardest part of the STI National Youth Convention is the practice and preparation for the actual convention. Just like what I mentioned before, the STI Convention is very unconventional as one of its features is the dancing master of ceremonies. This year we have made plans that the dance that I will have will be from Michael Jackson's This is it movie. If you remember their dance number with the song "Sing and Shout" you would probably say that its reloaded version is slightly better than the original. The STI College Alabang dancers are one great dancing crew and I hope that we will make good this NYC, til then!

A lot of NYC faithfuls that have always been going back to the manila run are always waiting for the new gimmicks that usually accompany each and every STI Convention. I just hope this year they will be amazed again.

Dancing Inmates

Filipinos are very proud whenever other filipinos do good. Word would easily come out on a person's achievement however small it may be. Just recently, one thing that Filipinos have been very proud of is the video shoot of a dance number by the 1500 inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and rehabilitation center. Michael Jackson's long time choreographer Travis Payne, who is also seen in MJ's movie This is IT took two days to complete the dance video tribute to MJ to the tune of "They don't care about us!" This just shows that you can actually do something good even if the persons involved are BAD. The only problem I see is that the crime rate might go up in Cebu so that gang members can join the dancing inmates!

10th STI Basketball Showdown: STI College Sta. Rosa early favorite

Nokia RP Youth Campaigners

Von Pessumal, Paolo Romero and Kieffer Ravena

chose the Best Muse from STI College Global City

It was billed as the battle of the runner ups. Since DLS-STI E.Rodriguez did not join this year, 2009 1st Runner Up STI College Balagtas and 2008 1st Runner Up STI College Santa Rosa are two of the favorites that are billed to slug it out this year. After their sorry 2008 loss to the DLS-STI squad, the Santa Rosa dribblers beefed up their line up by recruiting young guns and had fruitful campaigns in their own area. Back to lead the team are the vastly improved point guard Winston Balmaceda and the hard nosed forward John Batisan.

John Batisan fouled hard

On the other hand, STI College Balagtas lost steam in the finals after sweeping the eliminations. Back in their line up are two young campaigners who did well in the 9th Season of the NAASCU 18 year old Cedric Ablaza and 20 year old Paulo Villadoz. Both forwards will stamp their class among the other teams who are vying to break the 5 year dominance of DLS-STI. Add to that two more big guns in Patrick Pascual and Chowking Yee then you have a formidable squad.

Mid-air action

The 10th STI Basketball showdown opened at the Rizal Coliseum with eight STI Teams heeding the call for the STI Basketball program. Besides the two schools mentioned , last year's third placer STI College Global City, fourth placer STI College Quezon Ave. who have also beefed up their line ups looks to crowd the two favored teams. Other teams include STI College Taft which is the only other holdover with three new teams joining the fray, STI College Marikina and returnees STI College Muñoz and STI College Novaliches.

Cedric Ablaza could not do it all

STI College Santa Rosa worked overtime from start to finish as they won the battle of the runner ups with a convincing 74 - 63 win over 2009 1st runner-up STI College Balagtas. The Laguna based cagers had their biggest lead of 30 points back in the second quarter 45-15. Summoning the strength that made them sweep the eliminations last year, the Bulacan based dribblers staged a comeback that cut the lead to only 9 points. Newly recruited Olympian Cedric Ablaza arrived in the fourth quarter to jumpstart the comeback but his end game heroics was not enough to overcome the Santa Rosa lead.

Leguin with a lay in

Other opening day winners include STI College Global City winning over STI College Taft 84 - 53, STI College Quezon Ave. winning over STI College Munoz 78 -49 and STI College Marikina beating STI College Novaliches 87 - 67.

15th NYC in Cebu City

The Queen CIty of the South was once again the venue for the STI National Youth Convention. This year, besides the host city CEbu, students from STI Mandaue, STI Calbayog, STI Dumaguete and STI College Surigao were at hand to witness this one of a kind extravaganza.

STI students from the south are really different from the northern part of the country, Here, students and Filipinos are more appreciative and always greet you with a ready smile. The culture I believe shows that Visayan people are proud people but more hospitable and accommodating than any other region in the country.

As you can see, the smiles of the students kept us going as the National Youth Convention booked another successful run in the Queen city of the south. The event once again was held at the CAP Auditorium in Osmena St. Cebu. The CAP place is actually the ancestral home of Cebu's foremost politician - Sergio Osmeña Sr.

15th NYC in Ormoc City

The city of Ormoc has always given me fond memories and all because of the countless times we were there for the STI National Youth Convention. This time the stay in Ormoc was different because we stayed for two nights. Normally we would go back to Tacloban City after the event since the flight back to Manila was around 8 am. Here are some highlights of the National Youth Convention held at the Ormoc Astrodome.

Globe Lab's Princess Cruz

spoke for the first time

on the Innovate topic

Ricky Bunag was

called back for action

STI'ers proudly sing

the STI Hymn

Dana and Maricel are all smiles

Team Panlilio wins anew

A hard start and big push was all Team Panlilio needed to jumpstart its bid to its second consecutive win in the Francisco division of the 10^th Season of the Ateneo Basketball league. Team Panlilio used a second quarter push and never looked back as it disposed Team Amurao at the D-Zone in Makati City. Peter Gonzalez led the charge of Team Panlilio as he and Jerome Buhay took charge of the fastbreaks that broke the backs of Team Amurao to win convincingly 79 -63.

Conditioning plays a big role in the Ateneo Basketball league as most of the Alumni who play are usually past their prime since beer bellies are the in thing and it is the venue where weekend warriors summon their strength anew. Team Panlilio boasts of two well conditioned athletes in Peter Gonzalez who is an accomplished triathlon campaigner. ON the other hand, Jerome Buhay spends a lot of time conditioning himself through various 10k runs and a full marathon. These two guard-forwards leave opponents gasping for air as they usually go for the basket in every fastbreak opportunity.

Team Panlilio has other weapons who clicked this time around as three point specialist Bong Berbano led TeamPan with 18 points after sinking four three pointers which he complemented with 5 steals. Dato Arroyo on the other hand provided the fourth quarter spark as Gonzalez sat down for the whole fourth quarter. Jun Castro, the team’s primary inside penetrator was saddled by early foul trouble and was not into his game early on as he just scored 6 points. Dennis Manalo opened the third quarter with valuable lane incursions together with another center Buboy Go who just arrived from abroad in the morning of game day.

With two straight wins, Team Panlilio has a bright outlook in the tournament as the confidence in their defense, fastbreak and inside plays will be a big factor in the coming games. Next stop, a battle between two undefeated teams as Team Panlilio takes on another unbeaten team, Team Jalandoni. Stay tuned.

Callospa Resort in Antipolo

During the time that I went to Antipolo i remember having to be one of the people who were walking on the eve of May 1 from Ortigas avenue to Antipolo church. That was so long ago and my image of Antipolo is a place that is not really that developed. But then again that was a long time ago when we frequent the place for a little booze a top the hills over looking Metro Manila. Now that is a thing of the past.

Along the way just a tricycle from Unciano Colleges are various resorts where one can hold a wedding reception or just a great hideaway to unwind during the weekend. Luckily my galpal Zerina Tiangco, one of my angels invited us over to share here 20th birthday in this nice weekend getaway - the place is called Callospa.

Callospa is a sanctuary for the mind, body and soul in the midst of a stimulated rainforest surrounded by flora, waterfalls mistings all over the place. It is a place to relax since the pool is great, the badminton area is okay and there is also a spa in the place. Numerous functions were already held in the venue and I am happy that I have discovered another place to nest.

Luckily I got the numbers of the place. 0917-8334351,09228007889. YOu can actually rent the place form 8 am to 4 pm for P 10,000 and even have an overnight stay for P 12,500. This is great for a party of 10 to 30 people who are looking for fun. Hope to go back again here.

Zerina's Birthday Party

I blogged about the sTI All Star Dancers before here. Now lets see some pictures of the birthday swim party of Zerina Tiangco. It's in a resort in Antipolo, the name of the resort is Callospa It's a nice place to wind up and relax since not only does it have a pool but you can actually hold functions, weddings, badminton games and enjoy the place. Here are some pictures of the birthday of Zerina.

Yours truly and RJ

enjoying a dip

on the cool pool

The Gurls Zerina, RJ,

Rynee and Bujoy show

how to pose

in front of a camera

Yours truly and the Birthday Gurl

Pose and Pose and

smiling on the my camera!

Let's go Gurlz!