It's been 54 days since Luzon and other parts of the country was placed in Community Quarantine. I've gone full beard with regular haircut to full beard and skinhead and then crew cut to no facial hair at all.
In the last 54 days, me and my family has prayed the Holy Rosary together every five in the afternoon. During the Holy Week, we were able to pray Rosary in full, with Novena prayers to the Divine Mercy of Sister Faustina.
And it has been 99 days since the Philippines had its very first COVID-19 case courtesy of.......drum roll please, a 38-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, the origin of the disease. The woman arrived in Manila from Hong Kong on January 21.
And then:
February 2, 2020. Second case of COVID-19 in the Philippines. A 44-year-old Chinese male who was the companion of the first case. His death on February 1 was the first recorded outside China. He suffered from co-infection with influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
February 5, 2020. Confirmed third case of 60-year-old Chinese woman who flew into Cebu City from Hong Kong on January 20 before she traveled to Bohol where she consulted a doctor at a private hospital on January 22, due to fever and rhinitis. Samples taken from the patient on January 24 returned a negative result, but the DOH was notified on February 3 that samples taken from the patient on January 23 tested positive for the virus. The patient upon recovery on January 31 was allowed to go home to China.
March 30, 2020. 128 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed on 30 March, compared to 343 cases on 29 March. 7 additional deaths reported on 30 March, and 3 on 29 March.
April 15, 2020. A total of 5,453 confirmed cases reported in the Philippines, 55% are male, with the most affected age group 60-69 years.
May 1, 2020. A total of 8,772 confirmed cases reported. 68.4% of cases reported from National Capital Region (NCR), followed by CALABARZON (13.3%), Central Visayas (7.6%) and Central Luzon (4.4%). The large number of cases in Central Visayas is attributed to several localized outbreaks in Cebu barangays and prisons.
And on Sunday, May 10, 2020, we will be celebrating Mother's Day. Let us all remember honor our mothers and all the mothers all over the world.
And in celebrating this very special day, let us remember Mother Mary, the Mother of God:
How have you been? The COVID-19 has affected all of us tremendously. Thousands have died and many more have been infected. The World Health Organization wasn't prepared at all and our own Department of Health couldn't figure a way to contain and stop this deadly virus. Together with my family, we continue to pray for the safety, protection and enlightenment of everyone from this global pandemic.
And if you have run out of things to do at home and if you have gone to visit all the spots in your house, you're probably searching for distractions. Have you gone on to develop that biceps you have been wishing to do so? Have you, just like much of the FB posters and users have done, gone on to do baking? Or have you started playing chess online again after a long hiatus?
Or are you one of the millions of readers all over the world in search of books? Free books?
Well I'm sharing the following links for you to visit. They are not mine but they will give you tons of books to download for free. No gimmicks.
"It is a library of over 60,000 free eBooks. Choose among free EPub and Kindle eBooks, download them or read them online. You will find the world's great literature here, with focus on older works for which U.S. copyright has expired. Thousands of volunteers digitized and diligently proofread the eBooks, for enjoyment and education."
"Founded in 2008, HathiTrust is anot-for-profit collaborative of academic and research libraries preserving 17+million digitized items. HathiTrust offers reading access to the fullest extent allowable by U.S.copyright law, computational access to the entire corpus for scholarly research, and other emerging services based on the combined collection. HathiTrust members steward the collection---the largest set of digitized books managed by academic and research libraries ----under the aims of scholarly, not corporate, interests."
The Internet Archives can also give you books for free. Aside from free books to download or read, they have a Way Back Machine were you can type-in a website name or link and it will show it to you.
But here is my newest favorite discovery, a website that "reformats" an books into newer versions of Ebooks. Ladies and gentlemen here is Standard Books.
"Free and liberated Ebooks, carefully produced for the true book lover". And finally, my go to place, PDFDrive.Com. You don't need to create an account to get any available book you may have in mind. As long as it is available out of 80,915,893 eBooks for you to download for free.
So how did you get in here? Were you directed from my YouTube video on Deadly Checkmate series? This video series I am making is based on the work on GM Murray Chandler "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess".
Here is the typical pattern for Anastasia's Mate:
After watching my video on Anastasia's Mate, it's your turn to look for the checkmate and practice what you've learned. Good luck!
Exercise 1:
Exercise 2:
Exercise 3:
I hope you guys enjoyed doing detective work on Anastasia's Mate. Make sure you subscribe on our YouTube Channel here and Follow this Blog too!
The announcement was made by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, as approved by President Rodrigo Duterte. These are the following areas:
Region III: Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Pampanga Region IV-A: Batangas, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal and Quezon Region IV-B: Oriental Mindoro, Occidental Mindoro Region V: Albay, Catanduanes, Visayas, Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Cebu & Iloilo Mindanao: Davao del Norte
Did you know that the IATF-EID that was created in 2014 through Executive Order No. 168 which was issued by then-President Benigno Aquino III? It was organized as government's instrument
to assess, monitor, contain, control and prevent the spread of any potential epidemic in the Philippines.
The two busiest regions in the country, NCR and CaLaBaRZon, in terms of population and economic movement, have the highest incidence of COVID-19 deaths. Metro Manila has 4,673 confirmed cases with 310 deaths while CaLaBaRZon has 818 confirmed cases with 62 deaths as of 4 PM today, April 24,2020.
In the last 5 weeks of quarantine what have you done at home?
With the Enhanced Community Quarantine, we were forced to stay home. It was scary right? But it also gave us more time to be with our family. As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into a month, we learned how to cope. Some of you found ways to help, others helped in very subtle ways.
We learned to help and cope with the situation. On my part, ECQ gave me time to look into my chess and basketball video collection and realized I can share them on YT. With the videos online, there will be more opportunities and materials for viewers to stay home by watching these videos.
As much as I would love to, and in fact would really appreciate it, if you subscribe to my channel and like our videos, it is still your choice to subscribe to my channel. But I wish you would.
And now, allow me to share some of my basketball videos. Most of these involve coaches and player development. It's been a productive seven-year run for me as a varsity basketball coach.
Let me start with The Shooting Guide Series video from my YouTube Channel in three parts.
Coach Mitch Buonaguro of SIENA COLLEGE for Five STAR Basketball Coaches Clinic. Go check him out guys. Such a great, detailed teacher.
In the last five year, I have been fortunate enough to participate in the National Basketball Training Center's Coaches Convention by Coaches Eric Altamirano and Alex Compton. These two guys have been prominent players in the coaches development in the Philippines.
Here are some of the videos from the Coaches Convention:
Gilas Point Guard Jimmy Alapag talks about Leadership, Trust and Vision in the 2017 Edition of NBTC. I've always followed the idea that coaching is more of culture implementation. And the culture of the team is set by the coach, first and foremost.
There are many videos to watch and I hope it helps in keeping the people inside their homes with these video tutorials.
I have discovered this GIPHY Website that helps me create GIPHYS of chess games I played and chess games I wish to study.
By now the #StayAtHome has become the call for prevention from an unlikely but fatal enemy, Coronavirus. Also known as Covid-19, it has spread to a number of countries around the world. The virus which was called as NCOV before the World Health Organization declared the infection as Global Pandemic mid-March, came out of China. You ask yourself "how many people died in China from Coronavirus?"
What is it like to stay home, be forced to distance yourself from other people while being paranoid from people about getting sick with the virus?
For one, it can be boring if you won't find a way to do something. Second, you will appreciate what you have in your life. We are bombarded with so many social media trends that for once you feel like throwing your phone away and never to pick it up until your sane enough to read through the negativity that emanates from your friends' shout outs.
Where do we go to for all the noise this world is giving us?
I have my own sanctuary, Family prayers.
Every night at six, since March 15, my family has prayed the Holy Rosary. In two days we will be celebrating Palm Sunday and I really want to catch that Sunday Mass TV. Next week is Holy Week and this will be the first time since 2005 that I wont be able to do my Visita Iglesia. #SocialDistancing and #STAYHOME, because.
For every isolation and meditation, one asks the following:
1. Coronavirus prevention tips, which one must I follow?
2. How can I prevent coronavirus? 3. Is it airborne? Various sources give differing asnwers.
4. How do I make a facial mask?
5. Sanitizer gel, how can I make one?
6. Where can I buy disinfectant sprays?
These are some of the random questions you get to ask yourself. I still have lots of 'em:
7. What are the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) Online courses that can take?
8. Will we get our share from the Landbank allotment of Php 10-B Emergency loan to LGUs?
9. The so-called social amelioration program of the government, when will it start?
10. With all the chaos happening, how can we move forward and live a peaceful life?
I have some answers:
Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos starts fundraiser for corona virus frontliners. Feel-good news for a world that's been broken by personal agendas and politicking. Nairobi and her gang is back today on Netflix. Go ahead and binge-watch!
Do you want peace or war? These are the guys at the forefront of every debates, arguments and unfriending: Duterte. Robredo. DDS. Yellow-tards. Bong Go. Governor Remulla and Laguna Governor.
In Hollywood, we have Trump, New York and the rest of the United States of A getting sick and not knowing how to recover.
In China, they've got the solution to every problem, and the answer to every question. And the whole world is pointing fingers at them for spreading this virus. While everyone is getting sick, China is buying, building and bullying weaker economies and nations.
Department of Social Welfare and Development must be at the center of every transaction to help people in dire need of food, housing and support. But how can you be effective when you have not expected any of these? And you haven't been preparing for anything like this?
Watching live streams of news from local news TV, one gets to realize one thing: the world as we know it is over. From news casting, to learning with Zoom as one's platform and watching the Baranggay Tanod do their rounds at 8 PM to the tune of The Purge, everything has changed and we either adapt or perish.
So will you be doing the Seven Churches Visit via the Internet? Whats the weather like in your area? Here in Cavite, it's frying hot.
Yes, schools have closed and so are the businesses and services that we once hated for duping all of us into the economy of living. The NBA season is never coming back and si is the Candidates Matches of FIDE, the world governing body of Chess.
Do you know of a place where there is no corona virus?
Do you know of a school that operates like before?
Is there cure for this sickness?
So what's news?
I have run three chess tournaments online with my players from different schools.
I have uploaded chess videos over at my channel.
I'm sleepy now. I'll be back next Sunday, hopefully, refreshed from a week of praying and fasting.
Holy week 2020 is here and I'm officially logging off.
On top of life happening to me and my wife, raising four beautiful kids, we have homeschooled in the last ten years. We have seen our children adjust and do well in the regular classroom after their homeschooling with us.
In view of the COVID-19 situation, almost everyone is doing home learning. I found a lot of comments online about the difficulty of having to handle their children's "academic" tasks. It can be overwhelming but there are several ways to handle this perception. After all, there is so much we can do for our families.
Let me share some insights.
1. Home time is family time.
This is an opportunity to spend quality and fun times with your loved ones. Everyone's home, no one is allowed to go out, for safety sake. With Luzon on a community quarantine (lock down right? why play with words?), we ought to stay home. Make your time with your kids fun, meaningful and light.
2. Support your child's online conference.
If your child's school has a set schedule for their daily classes until April 15, please make sure you give them the space they can use for online conferences AND the necessary WiFi connection. In our home I had meeting with my three teenagers, my wife and my 8-year-old and asked them to log-off from the internet once they see me running my online conferences with my students. I have had a couple of students struggle and miss our conferences because their internet connections were bad. It pains to see my students worry about these missed conferences. You might as well call your child's home room teacher and ask about your child's online learning program...if there's one.
At Blank School where I teach, we are using Zoom for online conference with Google Suite as our smorgasbord we can choose from. Google classroom and Google hangouts are very useful and easy to use. By default, I have Managebac platform for uploading tasks and submissions. We have used Managebac in the last several years and its only logical to continue using it. As a teacher and a father, I don't want to add to confusion to my students' learning by introducing other platforms that are otherwise served on MB.
3. Reading with your children.
The older your children gets, the more independent they become. This holds true to reading and other academic responsibilities.
Here's a great reminder: YOU CAN ENJOY READING with your CHILDREN at any age!
I really think (and feel) that the secret to attracting your children to enjoy reading is by making their reading experience meaningful and enjoyable. If you are a reader like me, you would have lots of ideas on how to make this happen. If you're not but would want to make a difference in your child's reading development, then it's the perfect time to open and read those pages. I'm sure you will have fun discovering those stories and characters you've always wondered about.
And here's something that works well, with my children, my nieces and nephews and during my storytelling gig at The Children's Library by The Gokongwei Brothers Foundation:
"Tell a story from your own childhood, your own life experiences and stories you've heard from your childhood...these personal stories are more meaningful because they evoke emotions and bring you back in time when life was simple, innocent and full of wonder".
4. Do workouts and other goal-oriented physical activities.
Me in white shirt and Bunso with the 2 Balls
With the 24-7 time we have at home, there is no excuse for missing physical fitness and workouts. You have a bonus his time: Workout with your children and wife. It is time to bring out and use that treadmill you bought a couple of Christmases ago. Let that gluts (Maximus and minimus) and traps (Trapezius right?) do their work in a repetitive movement.
Our Scholastic Basketball Camp and PIT Workouts
Ok you have younger than 10 year-old kids? Then it's more fun having them around while they mimic your reps and sets. You don't have space for these activities? Then do some stationary workouts like jogging in place, high knees, butt kicks and push ups.
It is important to to keep in mind that making these times fun and light will give your child the opportunity to spend more time with you. And keep them away from worrying about COVID-19.
Workouts Anytime, Anywhere
5. Jamming. Play the guitar, play music. Videoke-Karaoke time!
If you have, in some way, read up on the life of St. John Bosco of Sales, you would know how St. John utilized and cherished music in his half-way homes for the boys ( I guess its the same with the girls). Let me cite some quotes on the power of music by St. John of Bosco of Sales:
"The music of the young should be listened to with the heart and not with the ears." "A school without music is a school without a soul, for music aids education. It is a most effective means to obtain discipline, morality, and help good feeling..." "An Oratory without music is like a body without a soul."
Caveat: Your child may or may not be the next Mozart, Cayabyab or Leah Salonga but this SHOULD NOT STOP you from enjoying music with them. Sing songs with them from TV commercials and jingles. Hum hymns and beats from Sunday service and Holy Eucharist. Listen to sounds coming from the environment: water dripping, iron gates clanging and banging, car motors broom-broom and people talking with different accents and intonations. Sounds are the basic build-ups of music. Heck, those hip hop rhymes might eventually improve their vocabulary and music sense. (wink!) 6. Art and all the (fun) work that goes with it. Once you realize the power of DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE Learning and Teaching, everything else will be easy. The same goes with art development. Exposure and the opportunity to work with different art materials and different genres, coupled with fun times with mom, dad and siblings, it will be a breeze. Bringing awareness to your kids of the subtle color and hue changes, to those classical masterpieces of Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Michelangelo may sound weird or even pretentious but hey, you'll do anything for your children right? Since museums and other artsy places are probably closed, why not make your own masterpieces with your child? These artworks can come in different forms. The more practical outputs would be t-shirt paintings or doodles, tie-dye shirts and shorts, paper and pencil drawings, heat transfers with personalized designs and lately, hydro dips. Check out my daughters' work on my phone case:
Pat and Fides Hydro Dip Work
7. Do household work together.
As early as 2005, five years into my teaching gig, I came across a workshop that promotes household chores intentionally given to students with a simple premise: "children who grow up in families that ask them to do household chores become more responsible and confident adults". There were various studies and surveys cited in the workshop and it makes sense.
One interesting study cited was the comparison of five boarding school student population where a third of the subjects were asked to do chores while another group was not given any household chore related and still another group were given the option to participate in household work if they want to or can opt out of the chores if they want to.
The study was carried through and the subjects were followed through their adult lives. Guess what happened to the students who had to do chores? Let me give you a hint: adult living requires you to manage responsibilities from different areas of life. Adult life will almost always ask you to follow through, commit and give best effort to be successful.
Which group do you think had 4 to 6 years of doing work with expectations from school admins and house mothers?
"Children can learn a lot from doing household chores.
Doing chores helps children learn about what they need to do to care for themselves, a home and a family. They learn skills they can use in their adult lives, like preparing meals, cleaning, organising and keeping a garden.
Being involved in chores also gives children experience of relationship skills like communicating clearly, negotiating, cooperating and working as a team.
When children contribute to family life, it helps them feel competent and responsible. Even if they don’t enjoy the chore, when they keep going they get the feeling of satisfaction that comes with finishing a task.
And sharing housework can alsohelp families work betterand reduce family stress. When children help out, chores get done sooner, and parents have less to do. This frees up time for the family to spend doing fun things together."
Washing the dishes, doing the laundry, preparing the dining table, preparing the dish for lunch, wiping and cleaning the window glass, disinfecting the doorknobs and sweeping the floor...there's just a lot of work that can be accomplished at home.
The bonus? Spending time with family and cleaning up the sanctuary called home.
8. The family that prays together, stays forever.
Whatever religion you may be part of, or philosophical adherent you choose, or any cultural membership you are with, all of these require you to reflect, meditate and pray in a superiors intelligence or presence.
Even those that claim to be an aetheist or agnostic, these guys would often look back, review and ponder upon life's situations.
In moments of disillusion, look back and savor your life's consolations. And in moments of achievements and comforts, look back and do some contemplation.
It's never too late or too early to introduce the power of meditation to your family.
Pray. Pray unceasingly. Pray like it will be the last time you will be able to do so.
Homeschooling.
It's a great time to be dipping your fingers into your child's education. This is the best time to share your love for reading, counting and all sorts of stuff. Now's the time. Take the chance. This is it. The most opportune time show another side of you to your children.
When the going gets tough?
Take a break. You are not in any way expected to go crazy while teaching your children.
By now the COVID-19, which has reached the pandemic level, has greatly affected everyone all over the world. The quick scan and survey of the latest Global Situation Report 54 (PDF) released by the World Health Organization as of March 14 at 10 AM: - 153,527 Confirmed cases - 5,733 Deaths - 144 countries, areas and territories with cases You may visit this interactive map of Novel Corona Virus (Covid-19) Situation.
And in the Philippines, the total number of reported cases went up to 144 with 12 deaths. The Department of Health seeks public cooperation. In a press release, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III stated:
“Now it is our turn to do our part in mitigating the spread of the disease. The DOH earnestly asks for everyone’s cooperation. Our front line health workers and medical personnel are risking their safety to respond to the needs of the public, all we ask is for you to do your part: practice preventive measures, go on strict home quarantine if you are experiencing mild symptoms, and help halt the spread of fake news. The success of our measures to contain COVID-19 is hinged on your participation. We will get through this together,” the Secretary added.
“At this most trying time, our strongest weapon as a nation is Vigilance, Preparedness, and Solidarity. We are seeing these values at play now as DOH is receiving an influx of support from individuals and organizations who are willing to render assistance in any way they can. Let this be a reminder for all Filipinos to step up to the plate and heed the call for cooperation,”
It is important to be aware of the implementation of the "Community Quarantine" tomorrow, March 17, Monday. The Inter-|Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) adopts several measures when our country raised the |Code Red Sub-Level 2 of COVID-19.
Almost all events have been cancelled and the movement going in and out of the National Capital Region will be restricted and monitored closely. The Mayors of Metro Manila or NCR has issued a curfew to limit movement within the region.
Let us all help one another. Stay home and do your basic health improvement regimen. Avoid crowded places.
By now, Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak has reached a pandemic level. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday declared the rapid spread of COVID-19 outbreak as pandemic. Pandemic level can be understood easily with this description: "114 countries have reported that 118,000 have contracted Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, known as SARS-CoV2. Nearly 4,300 people have died.
In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte announced on March 12 that the National Capital Region is to be placed on "community quarantine", playing with terms and intentionally avoiding "lock down" during his much awaited but delayed press briefing in Malacanan.
With the community quarantine following the WHO's directive for national governments to step up in addressing the virus' effect and death toll, there were so many questions arising from PRRD's press briefing.
The virus causes mild respiratory infections in about 80% of those infected, though about half will have pneumonia. Another 15% develop severe illness, and 5% need critical care.
How do we address this? Let us borrow from the many ways social media has reached us like Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Google's Gmail and Blogger, Twitter and many more.
Here is another one, this time an infographic on Effective hand washing:
Knowing the Corona Virus:
Let me share the message I sent to my Scholastic Basketball Camp-PIT Workouts players the other day:
"Hi PIT Camp family! Musta na? No classes and stay at home? Fear not the COVID-19 Virus. Here are some reminders:
1. Exercise regularly, twice a day. Morning and afternoon.
2. Eat healthy. Gulay, isda, prutas (veggies, fish, fruits). STAY away from sugary food and drinks. Mas madali kumapit ang mga bacteria sa sugar inside the body (bacterias like to stick with sweets especially inside the body).
3. Rest well. Sleep early and wake up early.
4. Drink Vitamins. Double-up on your Vitamin C intake.
5. Drink enough water. Stay hydrated.
6. There is a reason for school cancellation. May dahilan. Kasi kailangan ma-contain ang virus and one sure way is to avoid crowds. Stay home.
7. Pray. Pray unceasingly. Pray everytime you have the chance.
8. Follow what your parents and guardians are saying. Obedience is one virtue we all could learn and be protected from.
9. Social Media SHOULD NOT be Your MAIN source of information. Fact check. Always.
Happy New Year and we've got the first ten days of 2020 heavy into possibilities of war, politics and environmental degradation.
Key events leading up to the recent Iran-US confrontation reached its peak on January 3 when the US assassinated Iran's General Qassem Soleimani. Iran replied with a promise of "harsh retaliation".
On January 8, as a retaliation, Iran launches several missiles on two bases in Irag housing American troops. No Iraqi or US casualties were reported.
Trump goes to twitter while Iran's leader, Ali Khamenei, replied with "we slapped them on the face" and "that military action is not enough".
Obviously and it is a known fact, that all these published and broadcasted responses are filtered way ahead of their printing and recording to sere their own propaganda. We all know this posturing all boils down to Fuck-I've-Got-Bigger-Balls-Than-Yours mentality.
Here's my personal message to you scumbags:
"Let's give peace to all those who want it and for those who don't, I seriously hope you all leave the planet now."
And in the Philippines, there's not much substantial "new news" except for President Duterte, VP Robredo and the crazy trending of Tala Dance Challenge.
Got anything to top this one?
And in case you were wondering what have I been doing lately to keep me away from the keyboard, I've gotten myself into a specialization course over at Coursera.
Journalism Course at Coursera
And to give you a taste of what I've been working on since November here is a 2-minute History of Journalism:
Team Philippines, with all the sports and events Filipino athletes are
playing in bags the overall championship for the 30th SEA Games.
Pinoys booming with pride, Netizens will take over the Internet with all the
congratulations and proud to be Pinoy memes.
Now stop. Breathe in and breathe out.
You don’t need to imagine it; you have to prepare for the eventuality. The Philippines is poised to win it all.
Friday, December 6 marks the sixth day of the SEA Games 2019 – the 30th
edition of the biennial multi-sport games event exclusively for South-East
Asian nations. The event, which is hosted by the Philippines this time, began
in great style on December 1 following a glittering opening ceremony. Not to
mention the shaky start we reported when the SEA Games had its soft opening.
As of this writing, our country is on top of the medal tally with
sixty-four gold, forty-five silver, and thirty-three bronze. On far second is Viet Nam with 31 gold, silver and forty-one bronze. Indonesia is on the third
spot with twenty-seven gold, thirty-six silver, and thirty-nine bronze.
The top three nations have surpassed the 100-medal tally and will most
likely stay on their respective spots until the torch is passed on to the next
host nation: Viet Nam.
Rounding up the top six rankings are Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand
with twenty-five, twenty-three and sixteen gold medals respectively for fourth,
fifth and sixth spots.
The bottom half of the medal tally are Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos
and Timor Leste. Timor Leste becomes the crowd’s favorite and wishes them to
get that elusive medal in the event.
And in our province, let me continue sharing the sports wows in Cavite.
I showcased last week one of the longest-running sports tournament in
Cavite, CAVSCAA or Cavite Sports and Cultural Athletic Association. This week,
I’ll let you in on one of the biggest secrets in Cavite, the SLCUAA or the Southern
Luzon Colleges and Universities Athletic Association. Now on its twentieth
season, it boasts of a strong membership of thirteen big schools with four
coming from the La Sallian schools, Brent I.S. and many more. In both sports
association CAVSCAA and SLCUAA, one common denominator is this school from
Bacoor, Saint Francis of Assisi College. Headed by veteran sports director
Benjo Viola, Saint Francis of Assisi College-Bacoor has quietly and steadily
promoted scholastic sports in Cavite and in Southern Luzon for more than two
decades now.
You may check out their Facebook pages for the complete results of
Season 20. They also have videos and photos posted from their games.
And in football, Cavite Football Academy (CFA) teams lorded it over the 4th
Governor’s Cup last November 30 at the PCU Football Field. CFA Youth won three
age-group championships out of five. Noteworthy is the Born 2005 Group claiming
the gold with non-substitute players. And in the Speed Regalo Padala- 2019
Youth Football League, the Under 11 Green Archers United FC Team, with players
from Cavite Football Academy, wins the 2nd Runner-Up trophy.
Still in football, another CFA Team, this time the Born 2009 group, wins
the Alaska Cup 2019 Championship at the Alabang Country Club last November
23-24.
Cavite province is and will still be in the next fifty years or so,
the breeding ground of athletes in several sports as long as we provide the
youth the avenue to learn and develop their games.
In part three next week, let me share the final review of the SEA Games
2019. For now, follow me and get updates by subscribing and liking my social
media accounts at:
Your
subscription will help me to continue the passion of mine and help sports in
Cavite to be promoted continuously.
Thank you so much to Coach Salber Oleo Palic of Saint Francis of Assisi-Bacoor. he sent me several replies to my queries and a bunch of files from the SLCUAA and CAVSCAA tournaments.
Thank you too to the members of my FB Chat Group NBTC Journal. The coaches there are the ones running the National Basketball Training Center for Cavite Territory. They are the Area Heads and Territory Head who would regularly update us, me specifically, on the goings-on in NBTC.
This post will be our anchor and will be updated for the entire season. Chooks-To-Go National Basketball Training Center is arguably the biggest developmental program in the Philippines. Now on its' 13th year, there are 127 participating cities serving thousands of athletes and mentors as well. With three participating cities during the inaugural season, it has now become a nationwide program that begins in October and lasts until March of the following year with Madness in MOA. This is also called The Nationals. The Nationals is also the time for NBTC-Coaches Convention that runs for three days with several basketball gurus sharing their expertise. NBTC All-Star Games are played and spread throughout the convention.
The Province of Cavite is a major player for NBTC. NBTC-Cavite Territory head is Coach Macky Torre. This year there are five areas with 16 to 19 teams each vying for the Regional Championship. There is one Commissioner for each area. There will only be one champion for each area. The five champions will play for the right to play in the national championship. The champion for each region qualifies and will play at the national championship where foreign teams are invited and seeded as well.
The 5 Areas are the following:
Commissioner Alvin Guadines
Commissioner Frederick V. Bael
Commissioner Jun Formoso Laus
Commissioner Benjo Viola Jr
Southwest Cavite Area
November 15,16,17 - Tanza National Comprehensive High School
November 22 - Amadeo Covered Court
November 23,23 - Tanza Sports Complex
Commissioner Angelito Hernandez Jr
I learned from Coach Fred of South Cavite that this year's Regional Qualifiers is a five-day festival. For the South Area, the leaders from each bracket are:
Top 1 Bracket A
Top 1 Bracket B
Top 1 Bracket C
Top 1 Bracket D
They are the Final Four and will battle for supremacy tomorrow.
And in the North Area, we have the coaches in one photo:
Some familiar faces
Game results:
This post is quite a bit and I'd have to take a breather. Still waiting for more results and photos for come in from the rest of the qualifiers.
Come back soon for sure we'll have them here.
By the way, you guys can revisit these links and check out some of our notes about NBTC:
We now have a glimpse of the venue for the chess competition for SA Games, courtesy of our friends from the National Chess Federation, veteran chess arbiter, Alex Dinoy:
Games will be held Traveller's Hotel, Rialto function room.
Representing our country in chess are the following:
Photo grab from the FB Account of National Chess Federation of the Philippines
Hi everyone. I'll be updating this post every now and then to keep up with all the news coming in from our friends who are either participating in the games as athletes, coaches, reporters or spectators at the #SEAGamesPH2019.
As of today, November 29, Friday we have the following updates: 1. Philippine Polo Team will be playing in the championship game and they will be playing against reigning champions Malaysia. Three teams were tied with a 2-1 win-loss record with Brunei
losing on tiebreak while the Philippines and Malaysia gets a higher tiebreak and play
in the championship. Sunday’s games will give us the battle for Third between
Brunei and Indonesia and the Philippines vs Malaysia at 3 pm. The venue will be at Iñigo Zobel Polo Facility in Calatagan, Batangas. 2. Senator Manny Pacquiao and Nesthy Petecio are the torchbearers and will be lighting the cauldron. The lighting of the cauldron will be held at New Clark City in Capas, Tarlac, while the opening ceremonies will unfold at the Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan. 3. After several requests and demands, yes demands, from civic groups for free tickets to the SEA Games, Cayetano announces Free SEA Games Tickets in 53 Events. It would be interesting how the tickets will reach the hands of Juan de la Cruz. 4. Philippine Men's National Football Team Azkals are in a must-win situation to barge into the semi-finals. Tonight, Philippines play against Malaysia, one loss and PH says goodbye to the next stage. And in the Women's side, here's a post from the Official Website of Southeast Asian Games 2019:
"THE Philippine Malditas pulled off one of their finest
performances yet last Tuesday night, holding mighty Myanmar to a scoreless draw
at the start of the 30th Southeast Asian Games women’s football tournament at
the Binan Stadium in Laguna."
5. Tropical storm Kammuri threatens to dampen the SEA Games and is predicted to make landfall in Central and Southern Luzon. Central Luzon would be Subic and Clark and Southern Luzon would mean CALABARZON. And those two regions are hosts to several SEA Games events. Let us all pray Kammuri changes direction.
Do check out the official website for SEA Games 2019. Slowly and methodically, information regarding the events' schedule and venues, including transportation options for spectators are added into the site.
