Blue Eagles Complete Grand Slam

Ryan Clarence Buenafe drilled the most important three-point basket in the UAAP Season 73 with less than 30 seconds left in the final quarter to seal the Blue Eagle’s date with history. The Ateneo Blue Eagles successfully pulled off a three-peat at the expense of the FEU Tamaraws and secured their rightful place in the elite class of universities having won a grand slam in the UAAP. The win gave the Blue Eagles their sixth (6th) Championship Trophy, half of which were delivered during the tenure of Coach Norman Augustus Black.


It was a different FEU team that came out of the locker room in Game 2 of the Finals. Armed with renewed fighting stance and shear determination, the Tamaraws shattered the Blue Eagle’s defense in the first quarter to post a 9-point margin 22-13 in the end. For a while there was silence in the gallery where the river of blue is flowing as shades of yellow and green floated in high heavens with their thundering cheer. But it soon came to an end. Ateneo regained composure in the second quarter to limit FEUs total quarter output to 9 points against the 17 of the Blue Eagles. The two teams were separated by a precarious one point lead at half-time for FEU.


The third quarter belonged to Ateneo but FEU made a gallant stand behind power forward Reil Cervantes and shooting forward Paul Joseph Sanga. Conspicuously missing from the offensive threat of FEU are MVP RR Garcia and Rookie Terence Romeo, had these two fire powers connected with their shots, FEU must have treated the 17,215 fans in attendance to a fireworks display inside the Big Dome. The lackluster offensive performance of these guards was even more aggravated by the absence of Coach Glen Capacio in the second half. Coach Glen was brought to the Medical City for precautionary check up after his blood pressure shot up. At the end of the gritty thirty (30) basketball minutes, the Blue Eagles posted a shaky 2 point margin from the Tamaraws.


The defining moment slowly unfolds in the fourth and final quarter. The game intensity was in full throttle entering the last ten minutes of Game 2. Players have to bleed to score a basket with each ball position tightly contested. This too is the period where men are separated from the boys, where will power is mightier than the pressure, where every second is precious than gold and where everyone were given a glimpse of future superstars in basketball. It is during this priceless moment that Emmanuel Monfort, Jeffrey Kirk Long and Ryan Clarence Buenafe revealed their true bloodline, one that traces its lineage back to the great grand Blue Eagle where Ateneo’s basketball program was sculpted.


The sights of Emmanuel Monfort, probably the smallest player in the UAAP at 5’7, towering over FEUs John Aldrech Ramos and Mark Anthony Bringas to grab a rebound, Kirk Long driving and going up and under for a reminiscent of the famous Michael Jordan signature move and Ryan Clarence Buanafe patiently working his rhythm inside the paint will forever be immortalized in the annals of the UAAP Finals. In the closing seconds when the game needs to find its fitting ending, the player shooting a forgettable five percent (5%) from the three-point country will drill the final dagger and end the blistering hope of an FEU comeback. Call it luck, but this guy knows not just how to play basketball but he too sported the biggest heart of them all.

The Brouhaha that is RH Bill : A Draft

The Reproductive Health bill is taking the spotlight again in the Philippines today. Unlike before, the pandemonium that is said to be brought about by the impending passage of the bill is about to cross a critical section as the Catholic Church, lead by its Bishops, threatened for a civil disobedience once this bill becomes a law. Today, the major protagonist (and antagonist) of this stage play have revealed their roles and showed their faces, much more their true colors which ultimately exposes their ultimate motives. There are two powerful parties actively involve in this explosive social issue each grabbing the protagonist role from the other, the church and the well-funded development NGO sectors with the backing of government technocrats.

So what is this Reproductive Health (RH) Bill all about? This is part of the Reproductive Health and Population Development Act of 2008 filed in the House of Representatives by Representative Edcel Lagman. In his statement published by the Philippine Daily Inquire, Lagman stressed that the reproductive health (RH) bill intends to promote information on and access to both natural and modern family planning methods, which are medically safe and legally permissible. It assures an enabling environment where women and couples have the freedom of informed choice on the mode of family planning they want to adopt based on their needs, personal convictions and religious beliefs.

In a separate document published by the Philippine Senate’s Economic Planning Office, it stated that the Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill (House Bill No. 5043/ Senate Bill No. 3122) popularly known as the RH bill, stemmed from the legislature’s attempt to come up with a defined national population policy framework. The national population policy framework will then be designed to cope up and attain the Millennium Development Goals set to be achieved by 2015. In the introduction part of the Senate Report, it emphasized the need for an effective RH Program to address the issues of pregnancy and childbirth wherein 1,500 women die every year due to various complications and the 10,000 babies more who die daily within the first months of life. It’s worthy to note that these deaths occur in developing countries like the Philippines and most of these deaths are avoidable.

Reckless and irresponsible. This was the short, sweet and simple collective response of the sector opposing the passage of the bill. The Pro-Life and Pro-Family stance of the Legislators were contradicted by highlighted Article II, Section 12 of the constitutions which states that “xxx the State shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception xxx.” The very Institution tasked to protect and uphold the laws of the land are making a mockery of the Institution. On top of that, they also presented medical records of high degree of infections to a women’s uterus and pelvic using IUD. They took excerpts of the Mayo Foundation report that says oral contraceptives are associated with an increase risk of breast cancer.

Former senator Francisco Tatad, a staunch detractor of the bill says that the Reproductive Health Bill is being presented as a health bill and an antipoverty bill at the same time. It is neither. It is not what its authors say it is; it is everything they say it is not. It is an ideological attack on human life, the family, and our social and cultural values. He further added that the bill rests on a flawed premise; it is unnecessary, unconstitutional, oppressive of religious belief and destructive of public morals and family values. Its enactment into law will only deepen the already frightening ignorance about the real issues. It should be rejected.

With all the legal, cultural and moral issues surrounding the passage of this bill, the entire country is left in quandary as to who among these two opposing sectors is right. While the debate to or not to pass the bill into a law continues, the daily struggle of ordinary Filipinos to make both ends meet remains. The call to act and voice our personal preference and concerns amidst the biases of religion and political affiliations remains weak. Tried to ask someone I caught up in the street days ago how they feel about the fracas going around for the passage of the bill, they simply told me they don’t know much less they don’t care.

I got four things in mind that may end this impasse and sensibly leading to a better judgment whether we really need the RH bill or not at all.

FIRST. The scenarios above being the glaring reality, arguments of whether the bill should be passed into a law or remain forever in the hallows of the legislative building is immaterial. Approved as a law or not, this can never serve its intended purpose without the basic understanding and appreciation of the people it intends to serve. Our population growth rate will forever remain in full speed if Juan dela Cruz do not understand the very premise from which this bill was created for. Therefore, the first key to winning the battle of good and evil is to distinguish the right from the wrong. This can only be done through proper EDUCATION.

SECOND. Walk the talk. Why do common people find RH bill, its components, coverage and the arguments of those who oppose it a very complicated issue? It’s because their main proponents and those that are actively campaigning against it cannot distinguish themselves from what they stand for and reconcile their affiliations with their sincerity. Case in point, why do I doubt Representative Lagman, a brilliant lawyer from Bicol, even if his intentions now may be rational, suitable, timely and true? It’s because he was never consistent with his other legislative standpoints that requires rationality, suitability, timeliness and truth. Recall how he defended Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the House of Representatives and you’ll see.

Walking the talk also entails knowing what you are saying. Sex as an issue is not certainly an expertise for the Bishops and the priests. Why dwell on matters you have, should I say, limited knowledge of? Have you tried raising a family too? There are things and proceeding better left in the powers of the state to decide on.

THIRD. The answer is clearly written in our Constitution. Check the Bill of Rights. “A “right” is a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man’s freedom of action in a social context. There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man’s right to his own life. Life is a process of self-sustaining and self-generated action; the right to life means the right to engage in self-sustaining and self-generated action—which means: the freedom to take all the actions required by the nature of a rational being for the support, the furtherance, the fulfillment and the enjoyment of his own life. (Such is the meaning of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.)

“The concept of a “right” pertains only to action—specifically, to freedom of action. It means freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by other men.

“Thus, for every individual, a right is the moral sanction of a positive—of his freedom to act on his own judgment, for his own goals, by his own voluntary, uncoerced choice. As to his neighbors, his rights impose no obligations on them except of a negative kind: to abstain from violating his rights.”

A right is absolute in the sense that you are entitled to such right as a human being and as an individual in a free society. No one has the right to deprive you of your rights, not even the government. But what kind of right is absolute? These are the rights enumerated under Article I (bill of rights) of our 1987 constitution. Article III, Section 1 is the paramount of all rights, to wit: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”

FOURTH. Given the framework of the Philippine Constitution and the rights each citizens are entitled too, is there really a need for an RH Bill to dictate and set the standards for Reproductive Health and Population Development? My choice is my right and I am entitled to exercise that right no matter how inverted the Catholic Church would define them in their religious context. A genuine Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill should emanate from the conviction of each Filipino that while our rights are safeguarded in the Constitution, each of us has an equal responsibility in the way we exercise these rights. Our rights are absolute so are our accountability.

The end that is being guaranteed in the Reproductive Health and Population Development Bill will define our individual existence. With our without the bill, we need to view things in a whole new perspective. There is no room for closed-conventional teachings in a world driven by change technology and information. While Catholic teachings may contradict portions of the RH bill, it’s time that the church looks at the new bigger picture and supports the RH bill in good conscience. If Jesus Christ were alive today, He would have amended portions of the Old Catholic teachings himself and introduce rational, logical and sensible philosophies. The way to the Kingdom of Heaven can be reached either by using the old dusty interstate road or take the super highway. It’s our choice and it’s our right.

For Evil To Triumph Is For Good Men To Do Nothing.

This is one of those actions scenes you will only see in movies. The bad guys are creeping up fast and the leading lady is trapped with no place to hide hoping that the leading man will suddenly appear to save the day. Never expected this kind of movie scene to come to life tonight, besides my story is more of a melodrama than an action adventure flick designed for Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa. Tonight, the Robin Padilla in me took and stole the limelight. The world that we knew is indeed not safe enough as we though it is. Threats normally come in the most unexpected time and the persons being put in grave dangers are your most cherished ones.

I was out of the house as early as seven after getting back from work. Thing I don’t normally do once inside the house. As the typical sometime-irresponsible man of the house, I chose to seat in quite room alone thousand and one steps away from home to enjoy glassful of ice cold beer. Better be in here than be exposed to the rapid-firing automatic blabber of my Chinese wife. In here, I felt safe without my bulletproof vest and helmet. Ahh, just when I thought of my selfish safety, the family I left behind was under attack, without a warning and without a sign, an insane Bin Laden was poised to strike a 747 in our house while the kids were sleeping.

A text message caught my attention going to my sixth and final round of SML. My Chinese wife sent an SOS message informing me of the imminent threat they were in. Bin Laden was lurking by the window waiting for the right opportunity to be in. They never knew his plans but I’m sure it won’t be as nice as Santa Clause would do his way on Christmas Eve. Apparently, when she went out to buy Motet her medicine, Bin Laden saw her going home. With his trademark headgear on and a three (3) meter bat in his hands, he followed her home and stayed at the window. His intention of coming in was done in a diplomatic manner of begging to be in but terrorist as they are, they’ve gone instantly ballistic upon a taste of refusal.

I immediately called up my friend, a policeman from nearby town an informed him that I need his assistance. Sensing the danger I was in and without asking a single question, he got almost instantaneously at our house just as I get there too. Bin Laden was no longer there but I can feel the fear he left behind as Motet hugged me tight trembling. I said to myself I can’t let this pass, never and not tonight. Without wasting a minute, my friend and I did a real-life scene of the crime operation to look for possible clues and unearth the suspect. Too bad for him, he was seating right at the very first corner of the dark street probably waiting for his next victim.

What happened next are covered by an executive privilege I got from Romulo Neri during the course of the ZTE investigation. One thing is for sure, Bin Laden will never forget tonight and I’m pretty sure he had learned some lessons which he can choose to live by for his own good or soon forget at a very lethal consequence. As I got home after, someone told me that the guy was insane. Well, that is never an excuse to justify what he has done and the things he intends to do in the future. Sometimes citizens need to enforce the law by themselves and carryout a certain degree of tolerable justice. The fight against criminality is not left for the authorities alone to do. Vigilance, courage and fighting stance can help deter crimes.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. I'm not the good man in this Edmund Burke quote, it's my friend, thanks Dre. You really deserve a promotion!

Blue Eagles Draw First Blood

League leader FEU Tamaraws looked like bunch of school boys being taught their first basketball lesson by professional basketball stars. This statement encapsulates the story in Game One of the Best-of-Three Finals Series of UAAP’s Season 73 held at the championship capital of the Philippines. In front of a sellout crowd at the Araneta Coliseum, Ateneo Blue Eagles methodically dismantle the very same powerhouse squad they have never beaten in the eliminations. FEU has been very vocal of their goal to play in the Finals and dethrone Ateneo since day one of the UAAP hoop. They achieved their goal by defeating De La Salle University in the Final Four but the boys of Coach Glen Capacio were not mentally tough and physically ready for a Finals-type basketball game.


The win solidified Ateneo’s contention for their Three-Feat Quest, something that has never been done in the history of ADMU’s Men’s Basketball team. To date, the University of Santo Tomas (UST), University of the East (UE), De La Salle University (DLSU) and the Far Eastern University (FEU) are the only schools that hold the distinction of having won three consecutive men’s basketball championships since the UAAP was founded in 1938. FEU, National University (NU), University of the Philippines (UP) and UST are the schools which started it all. Adamson University (ADU) and UE joined UAAP when the league expanded in 1952. Ateneo was added to the core schools twenty six (26) years after the first expansion. Eight (8) years after Ateneo’s entry came De La Salle University, thus the biggest and most exciting rivalry between Ateneo and DLSU begun.


The Ateneo Blue Eagles was more determined to win Game One. Playing effective, untiring and disciplined defense all game long, Ateneo scored one of the most lopsided championship (Game 1) victory with a 23-point margin. The Blue Eagles displayed superior basketball capped by their 47% field goal shooting average against the woeful 27% of FEU. This is very uncanny since FEU is the best offensive team of Season 73 entering the finals. FEUs offensive arsenals were even more potent than their average when they played Ateneo in the elimination round. But not tonight. Banking on their back-to-back final appearances, Ateneo Blue Eagles capitalized on their championship experience and severely crushed FEU. There are eleven (11) players in the current Ateneo line up who have won at least one UAAP Championship and none for FEU.


FEU dug a hole for themselves right at the start of the ballgame. Uncoordinated defensive patterns and reluctant shot selections spelled their doom. When league MVP RR Garcia of the FEU Tamaraws missed consecutive point blank jumpers, Blue Eagle Justin Chua lighted the scoreboards with successive unguarded baskets in the paint. On this note, Ateneo ended the first quarter with a 26-8 cushion. The party continued for Coach Norman and his squad in the second quarter. Rookie JP Erram and relievers Luis Lorenzo Gonzaga and Raymond Leonard Austria joined the attacks behind the unselfish fast break plays of Kirk Long, Ryan Buenafe and Team Captain Eric Salamat. The Blue Eagles didn’t look back since then and continued to erect a 42-21 half time lead.


The succeeding twenty (20) minutes of intense second half basketball did little damage to Ateneo even if they have outscored FEU by just a single point in the third and fourth quarter. The half time cushion is enough to secure the pivotal-most important game of the series. Since 1994, 75% (or 12 of 16 instances) of the teams who won Game One have gone to win the title. With the momentum on their side, Ateneo will try to take the crown on Thursday and grab their rightful place in the history of the UAAP as one of the few schools who have successfully completed a back-to-back-to-back championship runs. Game statistics and history are tools to measure team efficiency and leverage each team’s chances of winning. Come Game Two, all these are immaterial, if Ateneo plays and come out with higher intensity than what they showed in Game One, continue to play basic, unselfish, disciplined and intelligent basketball, then Ateneans all over the world will have all the reasons to celebrate another amazing year of Ateneo basketball!

Match Box

Our fascination for cool places, mouthwatering foods, cold beer and good music has brought me, my friends and my colleagues to check out the different getaways in and out of the city. Bars, grills and music bars along the hottest chilling points in Magsaysay Avenue have almost always been our destination in our one of those out of the blue TGIF gatherings. Depending on the mood for the night, hangouts are just a stone throw away from each other which makes hopping easy and fun. However, there are those nights where one can feel the same old place fatigue and one decides to scout the city’s innermost alley to find the best alternative place to be.

Hidden beneath the forgotten streets of downtown area is the classy Match Box Family KTV. Designed to provide guest the best Karaoke TV experience, Match Box offers KTV enthusiast a cozy ambiance topped with their wide range of song selections, state-of-the-art digital sound system and huge flat screen TV monitors for added singing pleasure. Groups can choose from among the different sizes of their exclusive KTV rooms or stay at the lounge with other guests for a more challenging Karaoke night. Located at the ground floor of Regent Hotel and Convention Center, Match Box is definitely the place that offers the best KTV experience.

Beers cost a little higher in this place. Well, obviously because it’s technically housed in a hotel with a different captured market, but the cost is properly justified by the standards of the KTV facilities and the service. One downside of the KTV room is its poor to limited cellphone signal, but who cares? It’s difficult to sing and send text messages at the same time anyway! Besides, the singing and the stories in between the songs sounded the greatest without the hassle of a ringtone and the jejemons. With no one from the outside world bothering you and none from your group disputing your singing style, for one night, you would want to believe that you are indeed a professional singer. Am I right Glen?

Invisible War

Invisible war, seems we're waging an invisible war
Strained maneouvres, keeping silent score
In this invisible war
Every day I seem to lose you more
Both wishing it was like before
In this invisible war

Talk about a fine line between love and hate
We've lost more than our direction of fate
Talk about a fine line between lovers and friends
We've never been lovers and now we're not even friends

In this invisible war, seems we're waging an invisible war
Every day I seem to lose you more
In this invisible war

Wounded deeply the scar is here to stay
Opening up at all the little things I do and say
You always want things to be as before
So I make you angry and you bleed a little more

In this invisible war, seems we're waging an invisible war
Every day I seem to lose you more
In this invisible war

Want to go away
I still love you
Got to go away
I always love you
Got to be away
Time heals all wounds
Invisible war

By Julia Fordham

FEU and Ateneo at the UAAP Finals: It’s Offense versus Defense

Coach Norman Augustus Black and the rest of the Ateneo Blue Eagles Seniors Basketball team will gun for their first ever three-peat victory in the UAAP Basketball Finals against the Far Eastern University Tamaraws mentored by Glen Capacio. Ateneo Blue Eagles has been a proud owner of five (5) UAAP Basketball Championship Trophies. Their last two (2) crowns were earned at the expense of arch-nemesis La Salle in Season 71 and the University of the East Red Warriors in Season 72. Their campaign for a Grand Slam at the start of Season 73 is halfway done as they face league leader FEU Tamaraws in a Best of Three Championship Series starting tomorrow at the Big Dome.


The talented Far Eastern University Tamaraws Basketball Team is no stranger to Championship Battles. As a matter of fact, FEU had nine (9) Final Appearances already and has brought home six (6) Championship Trophies out of its finals exposure. That’s a whopping 67% championship accuracy for the Tamaraws against the 50% championship record (10-5) of the Blue Eagles! The back-to-back 3rd place finish of the Tamaraws since Season 71 has made the team more mature and highly competitive this season. At the start of the tournament, FEU Tamaraw Coach Glen Capacio has openly challenged the reign of Ateneo by declaring they are out to win the championship. Just like their opponent, their goal is halfway done as they prepare to meet each other head-on for the decisive Game 1.


The last time these two squads met in the UAAP Finals was during Season 66 where FEU took the title away from Ateneo. Ironically, on that very season, FEU started and successfully completed their three-feat goal through a Final Sweep of La Salle in Season 68. What Ateneo intends to do today has been done by FEU five (5) seasons ago and just as destiny would have it, the Tamaraws are standing in the way of the Blue Eagles to deprive them of this illustrious achievement. Boasting sterling records in almost all categories in basketball including efficiency, the FEU Tamaraws had made successful use of the Triangle Offense starring guards Terence Romeo, Jens Knuttel and MVP candidate Ryan Garcia.


In their two (2) earlier meetings this season at the elimination rounds, FEU dominated Ateneo in games that were decided right at the closing seconds of the fourth quarter. Both were nail biters of a game with FEU winning by an average margin of 2.5 points only. No matter what the scores are, a win is still a win, and this means, Ateneo has yet to win versus FEU this season. While FEU leads the tournament in almost all categories, Ateneo leads the league in Assist with 16.7 per game and the Blue Eagles are number one in defense allowing their opponents to just an average of 62 points. The contrasting styles of these teams make this years’ UAAP Championship Series even more exciting. FEU, the leading offensive team in the league going up against Ateneo, the number one defense oriented squad. It’s going to be offense versus defense, Green versus Blue, Sampaloc versus Katipuana and Glen versus Norman


Of course I’m rooting for Ateneo to win the Finals and complete a rare back-to-back-to-Black title this season. There’s an old adage in sports that says “Offense wins games, but defense wins championships.” More than that, the team who plays and executes better defensive patterns and adjustments in a championship series are most likely to have the better offensive opportunity to score a basket. Yes, the Ateneo Blue Eagles are less dominant this season without former King Eagle Rabeh Al-Hussaini, Noy Baclao and Jai Reyes compared to the formidable frontlines of the Tamaraws, but hey, truth is, all the teams in the UAAP have improved (in terms of strength) this year and their silent and collective goal is to shoot the Eagles down. With key players gone and all teams in contention for the Championship, the Blue Eagle is spreading its mighty wings again, determined to add the illustrious three-feat feather into its wings.