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PIA 8 endeavors to professionalize the media

GAB awards cash to ex-WBF champ and ex-convict Magahin

Calbayog City implements "No Tag, No Collection" garbage policy

Tragedy-stricken So. Leyte continues to draw concern from top corporations

Solon lauds remedial classes for teachers, pushes for more educational reforms

DTI launches ‘Pag-Asenso’ live weekly TV sitcom

SAGUPA-SB: Black propaganda cannot stop us

People’s initiative steps up in Region 8

Rep. Figueroa seeks reelection; endorses wife as next governor of Samar

There was Balikatan in Guinsaugon – Gov. Lerias

 

‘BLACK MAMBA’ RELEASED FROM JAIL

Ex-world champ Magahin gears up for comeback at 35

By ALEX P. VIDAL / PNS
May 28, 2006


Magahin

ILOILO CITY  –  Like a biblical prodigal son, former World Boxing Federation (now Foundation) welterweight titlist William “The Black Mamba” Magahin, has reunited with his estranged foster father, Roland, here and is now itching to stage a comeback in the ring after a 10-year hiatus.

“This time, it’s for real,” vowed Roland, 48, who admitted he has accepted back to his fold his 35-year-old adopted son, once the toast of boxing community for sending to retirement the famed ex-WBC superfeatherweight king Rolando Navarette via six-round disposal in a non-title tiff at the Araneta Coliseum in 1994.

“I would like to confirm that William (Magahin) has returned (in Iloilo City) and he will soon be back in the ring,” said Roland, who acted as the black mestizo’s registered manager when the pugilist turned professional in 1989 with a first round demolition of  Noel Togana in a four-round aperitif in Mandaluyong City.

Criminal records

Roland said he accepted back his felonious ward on condition that he would totally discard his criminal activities and vices.

Magahin (18-6-1, 14 KOs), who never met his biological father – an American sailor stationed in Olongapo City in the 60’s – is fresh from a nearly three-year stint as inmate at the Quezon City jail for robbery-holdup.

He promised to “make the best of my remaining youthful years” to win another world title despite his admission last year that he used drugs even before being annihilated in the 10th round by Mexican-American Jaime Lerma in a WBF title defense which also served as his farewell fight in 1996 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Magahin admitted he “sought refuge” to drugs after his wife, a bank employee in Manila, junked him for another man. Their son is now in high school.

After quitting from the ring, Magahin left Roland to live in the underworld. He and his gang eked out a living by robbing taxis and doing other abhorrent crimes that eventually brought him behind bars.

Visit from WBF chief

When WBF President Mick Croucher and this writer visited him inside his detention cell and offered to bail him out on August 3, 2003, the 5 feet and 10 inches quarterfinalist in the 1984 World Junior Amateur Boxing Championship in Havana, Cuba, broke in tears.

An attempt to bail him out for P14,000 (Croucher withdrew the cash from Equitable-PCI Bank ATM machine in Ermita, Manila) was foiled after Manila  promoter Gabriel “Bebot” Elorde, Jr. returned Croucher’s money saying “he deserved to remain inside the jail for being a menace in the society.”

The Games and Amusement Board (GAB) chaired by Eric Buhain recently passed a resolution awarding the penniless Ilonggo boxer P10,000 to be taken from the agency’s welfare fund.

Recognition

GAB also awarded Magahin with a plaque of recognition in absentia during the 1st GAB Convention in Manila in April this year together with other Filipino former world boxing champions.

The plaque will be sent to Magahin’s residence in Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City now that he has been located, said GAB Commissioner Alex Paglumotan during a recent visit in Iloilo City.

Aside from the WBF diadem which Magahin grabbed from Jeff Malcolm on March 25, 1995 at the Iloilo Sports Complex here, the black fighter also once held the Philippine Boxing Federation (PBF) 140-lbs crown.

In 1993, he traveled to Tokyo and was bombed out in five rounds in a non-title duel by Tokyo Santa otherwise known as Miguel Angel Gonzales, the future WBC champion who terrorized the lightweight division vacated by the great Julio Caesar Chavez.

“He is still in excellent physical shape and I am confident he can still win a world championship despite his age,” said Roland. “That’s his promise to me.”

 

 

 

 

1-2-3 of Filipino in Mount Everest inspire Visayas climbers

By RICKY J. BAUTISTA
May 27, 2006
Sponsor:

CEBU CITY  –  The success of the three Philippine adventurers in scaling the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak which stands at 29, 039 feet, inspires the entire Filipinos, particularly the local mountaineering populace in the countrywide.

In random interviews to local climbers in Eastern Visayas, the victory of the three Filipino mountaineers, two of them, members of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition Team, were considered by them as an “achievement” of the entire nation.

Atty. Bruce Ragas, a climber and caver based in this city said the successful climb of the trio is again a triumph of human’s will to hurdle hardship no matter how hard the obstacle (is).

“It was doubly hard for the three Pinoys because coming from a tropical country, they need to harness their skills to the demand of alpine condition,” Ragas said.

“They (do) not only put the (Philippine) flag at the Everest peak, (but) they also put our country in the attention of global mountaineering. It also gives boost to our local mountaineering activity that surely would leap to a more professional level,” he added.

Sandro I. Almasco, a climber in Catarman, Northern Samar also contributed same observation with Ragas saying the “three Philippine eagles” has put a big mark in the international history of mountaineering.

“The success of the Filipino mountaineers (in Nepal) raises a high respect from international community and elevated us (instantly) to a pedestal where Hillary and Norgay seats (in 1953),” Almasco said in his statement sent to this writer Thursday.

Jean Orsolino, another climber from Las Navas, Northern Samar, said: “Climbing Everest has formally introduced the Filipino people to the extreme world of mountaineering.”

“The feat of Oracion, Emata and Garduce has earned mountaineering such esteem and respect. But the sports if it can be called as such must be viewed not as a competition with others but with one self,” Orsolino added.

Rommel Rutor, co-author of the Centro Outdoor Sports Unlimited based in Catbalogan, Samar shared, and “It’s an every mountaineers dream. I would be a hypocrite if I am not dreaming of becoming one of those who successfully climb it, and raise the seal of Samar as the first Samareño to reach the top of the world.”

“I just wish that the provincial government of Samar is that keen in supporting outdoor adventures (because) it’s the only way we can put Samar on the adventure map of Philippine tourism. Samar is number one on that aspect, but without the proper support from the local government unit, it will remain a dream for life,” Rutor, who was consistently commissioned by the province of Samar to promote tourism, said.

In Cebu City, one Glenda Bantang, president of the Elite Mountaineering Society (an association of at least 15 mountaineering groups in the entire Cebu) has also issued their statement relative to the successful conquest. A part of their statement said: “It proves that we Filipinos are internationally competitive in extreme sports. Our problem is that our government won’t support our athletes unless they’ve succeed, unlike in other countries.”

Oscar Melkie, president of the Baktasi Adventures in Northern Samar also said that the successful conquest of the Filipino climbers inspired us all. “It’s a show of Filipino excellence. We feel honored being a Filipino, but not our being colonial mentality when two networks competed for this cause,” he said.

Meanwhile, the rest of other climbers in the country including the President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo congratulated the three ‘historic’ climbers.

According to Arturo Valdez, leader of the ABS-CBN backed expedition team, Oracion arrived at the Everest summit around 0730 GMT (5:30 p.m. in the Philippines; 3:30 p.m. in Nepal).

He said Oracion was with a group of Swiss and Korean climbers who also made the summit, and that the group spent some time waiting to stand on the 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) summit due to a “traffic jam'’ created by about 20 climbers at the Hillary Step.

The step is the last major hurdle along the Nepalese southern route up the world's highest mountain, which straddles the border with China. Another Expedition member, Emata, arrived atop the mountain the following day, and a third, Garduce, followed shortly afterward.

“For mountaineers, that's the Holy Grail,” said Reggie Pablo, a leader of the Oracion's support group in Manila. “For the Philippine Everest team, it's more of a call for unity and teamwork for this country. We'd like to tell our people, send a message, that we can do the impossible if we put our acts together and work as a team.”

The Everest climb pitted the Philippines' largest television networks in a race against each other - ABS-CBN television is a major supporter of Oracion's team, while GMA7 television backs Garduce, a system analyst and member of the UP Mountaineers.

The networks have been airing regular reports on the progress of their respective teams since they left for Nepal early this year.

Garduce climbed some of the world's highest peaks, including Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Aconcagua in Argentina and Cho Oyu, the world's sixth-highest mountain, just west of Mount Everest while Oracion and Emata reached the summit of the 7,546-meter (24,757-foot) Muztagh Ata in Western Xinjiang, China in August 2005.

 

 

 

 

QUEDANCOR’s loan repayment hits 90 percent

By ELI C. DALUMPINES, PIA Samar
May 26, 2006

CATBALOGAN, Samar  –  Clients who have contracted loans with QUEDAN and Rural Credit Guarantee Corporation have a high repayment rate, QUEDANCOR’s Eriberto M. Suyom informed in a radio interview over DYMS Aksyon Radyo Thursday morning.

Suyom, who is the District Supervisor of QUEDANCOR’s Calbayog District Office, disclosed that their clienteles’ loan repayment reached 90%, contrary to what the public has expected.

Earlier, credit institutions who ventured with this kind of services, including government banks, aired their sad experiences with the borrowers who, in the most cases, forgot their responsibility of paying their debts right after borrowing. This, they blamed to the people’s lingering ‘dole-out mentality’.

Suyom said they do not encounter much difficulty when it comes to loan repayments since most of their clients are religiously paying their loans, except in cases like typhoons or other calamities where those who engaged in agri-business are likely to suffer.

However, in cases like these, QUEDANCOR is willing to relax the payment terms with those who are affected until such time that they have already recovered with their loses, he stressed.

“We even grant re-loans to our clients who are victims of calamities so that they will have the opportunity to recover,” the QUEDANCOR official informed.

According to Suyom, ‘the dole-out mentality’ of Samareños is now slowly eroding as evidenced by this high percentage of loan repayment.

QUEDANCOR extends to each client a maximum of P50,000 but he is required to submit a project proposal of the business he is planning to put up with. Suyom, however, said his office is willing to assist their clients in making project proposals.

 

 

 

 

Samar scholars receive allowances from CHED, solon

By RICKY J. BAUTISTA
May 25, 2006

CATBALOGAN, Samar –  The first batch of college scholars, in which expenses in college are being shouldered by the government and private benefactors, received their regular allowances on Saturday, May 20, this year.

At least 50 out of more than 200 scholars under the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) special study grant program in the second district of this province received Saturday morning their regular P1, 500 allowances.

Rep. Catalino Figueroa (2nd district – Samar) personally handed over checks to the first, second and third year college students enrolled at the Samar State University (SSU) in the school year 2005-2006. However, allowances of the ten fourth year college students of the same university, is yet to be released as it was still being readied nowadays, it was learned.

Marilyn A. Mabingnay, assistant head of the second district congressional office, who assisted Congressman Figueroa in distributing the checks, informed that aside from the CHED scholars, the solon also financed 10 more first year college students, in which expenses were taken under his own coffer.

In handing out the allowances, Figueroa inspired the students to study hard citing himself as example. He said that he himself indulged to different hard work while he was studying and he finally succeeded in his chosen field.

"You should study hard, so that someday you may be able to help your family and this suffering country. Young ones like you is the real hope of the next generation," the solon said.

Meanwhile, Mabingnay said that aside from that 70 scholars enrolled this year, the solon’s office and his wife Neliphta, the current mayor of Zumarraga and concurrently the president of Samar’s Mayor’s League of the Philippines are now processing the more than 100 scholars under the CHED scholarship program and the 70 students shouldered by the couple in the next school year 2006-2007.

It was also learned that the congressional office located in Brgy. Mercedes, Catbalogan is still accepting scholars provided that the applicant has an 85 percent grade in high school and must come from an indigent family.

Those lucky scholars were free from all expenses including their board and lodging, books, and monthly allowances while studying in state colleges and universities anywhere they wish to study.

 

 

 

 

Yamaha tour participants find Samar road ‘exciting’

By ELI C. DALUMPINES, PIA-Samar
May 22, 2006

CATBALOGAN, Samar  –  “It’s tough but it’s challenging”.


Some of the Pan-Asean tour motorbike riders pose with the local beauties during their short stint in Catbalogan.

This is what the motorists who participated in the Yamaha Pan-Asean Tour commented Thursday when they traversed the Calbiga-Catbalogan stretch of the Maharlika Highway that is known to be in its worst condition.

Mashahiko Adika of Yamaha-Japan who joined the Tour to promote Yamaha’s latest model, the T135 said they were quite excited with the tough road which really tested the durability of their motorbikes.

“Yes, it’s tough but with this bike (referring to the T135), wala problema”, the Japanese motorist jokingly said.

Adika, moreover, expressed thanks to Samareños for the warm welcome they receive upon entering Samar from the south.

He noted that they saw residents along the highway came out from their houses and waved their hands to them as they passed. Along with him were over 50 other Tour participants who came from the different countries in Southeast Asia, including motorist from the Philippines led by actor Gary Estrada.

Meanwhile, Norkis Yamaha’s marketing chief Boy Canonero, who oversees the Pan-Asen Tour in the Philippines disclosed that Samar was deliberately identified as one of the tour routes considering the condition of its road.

“As a Cebuano I traveled this route from time to time on my way home from Manila where I work and the condition of the road came to my attention. The inclusion of Eastern Visayas was really planned,” Canonero informed.

The tour was jointly initiated by Yamaha Motors and the Department of Tourism (DOT) to promote Yamaha’s latest model and at the same time promote the country’s tourism potential to the neighboring Asian countries.

 

 

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