By Joel B. Belinan
Officially, our weather bureau declared that the summer season is here after the January and February low temperatures. And true enough the summer season was immediately felt not just by the high temperatures during the day (it’s still chilly at dawn) but also by the left and right fires that struck the city. The biggest of which was the public market’s Block 4 and block 3 fire. I am not going to add up to the negative speculations on that incident but that fire may have turned us back to the way things were at the market before 2012 when those two blocks were like a messy shanty town. It was then cleared and new clean “blocks” were built— the ones that were recently burned .
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The ports events that we were expecting to see more of on the first quarter of 2023 did not happen. Organizers seem to be shying away except for a small group which had one event in Pangasinan last month and one upcoming in La Trinidad for the Strawberry Festival. So it seems that after the election last year, many of the organizers that were allied with big political figures do not dare to try. As said by a friend, organizers of sports events especially those related to combat sports rely so much on the graces of big shots to bankroll such events. Those big shots are usually political figures or those in business. Unfortunately, businesses are still just trying to rise from the ashes of the pandemic.
The only things that are going on in the local sports scene are those Dep-Ed sports events in preparation for the CARAA (Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association) meet and the Palarong Pambansa which will be happening in July.
One of my fitness boxing students, a 13-year-old boy had been asking me if there would be a tournament he could participate in to gain some experience. I kept on answering him to patiently wait and to just continue to train hard and there would be a chance later.
Another ward of mine represented his school in the Palarong Lungsod Wushu events. However, he failed to hurdle the elimination round due to his failure to stay within the mat despite his being the better striker over his opponent as narrated by those who saw the match. “That’s okay because the people who watched saw you win but just lost on a technicality,” I told him. For starters, familiarity with the rules may make a competitor win but to attain a longtime goal of becoming a better athlete performance is still the most important.
Still, on sports, the Team Lakay story about the leaving of Edward Folayang, Kevin Belingon, Joshua Pacio and Honorio Banario who were all former World Champions in their respective weight divisions continues to be a hot topic. This only shows how deep is the feeling of Filipino fans for these MMA stars as they keep themselves up to date on what’s next in their careers. The good thing about current MMA fighters, those still with the Team and the four who left, is that they are all college degree holders and maintain clean and wholesome images worthy of emulation by the young fans. I have never heard of any news where they engaged in brawls in bars or on the streets.
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The Montanosa Film Festival here in Baguio seems to be more stable than the sports events this year. It is currently ongoing and they have been doing free screenings at the biggest mall in town and at the Melvin Jones Grand Stand. According to Director Emmanuel De La Cruz who happened to have done fitness boxing in 2021 with me, and who recently passed by our Burnham Park stable, said that the film fest this year attracted more film entries. Director Emmanuel, popularly called “Ebonman” by his filmmaking students, is from Bulacan but has always been one of the key people in this yearly event as competition director. If you noticed, there have been many Kakailians who entered the film making industry in the recent few years.
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Just two weeks ago, I have been frequenting the Green Valley Village (formerly Green Valley Country Club) which surprised me with big changes. Unlike how it was around 6 years ago, there are now a lot of condominiums and villas that sprouted there. Most of the inhabitants are foreigners, dominated by Koreans. (More next week)**
