Mu vs Phi

I am a fanatic of my fraternity - the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity of the UP College of Medicine. In fact my whole batch - Batch 98 - is very emphatic about the frat. (And I'm the Batch Leader)

During the recent PGH Centennial Celebrations, Dr. Armand Crisostomo, the over-all chair (who is also a Brod), decided to have a basketball game between our frat and the other frat, the Phi Kappa Mu.

It's not an ordinary game, the last time the 2 frats played against each other was more than 10 years ago. And for this game, not only the undergraduates can play, even the alumni. So the game was set on a Thursday afternoon.

All the brods wore red, the others wore yellow (chicken?). Our team was made up of the strong team mostly from the late 80's and the early 90's squad. The Others were mostly undergraduates.

Of course my role in the game is to heckle along with my brods in the sideline (and to be the waterboys for the team).

Jumpball - the Phi got the ball but was called on a backing violation. My cohort hecklers -Jotek, Archie and Nick rained down heckles to this poor Phi "May linya dyan, ta_ga!" "Bobo mo di marunong tumingin" "Patingin ka sa OPhtha" - This was just the first 2 seconds of the game. When the Mu team got the ball, the first shot went in - CHAOS ensued (in our court) - 20 seconds just elapsed.

Some of my undergrad brods were initially timid, and were quite surprised that our group, the Consultants, are the leaders in heckling. They were just not accustomed in a game like this.

At the baseline of the court of the Phis were Raffy Consunji, Ebang Evangelista, Dave Leal and 30 more brods, all heckling the lights out of the shooting free throw shooter from the Phi. Sometimes "Mu,mu,mu,mu..." endless until the shooter shoots the ball, othertimes just shouting "WALA!", sometimes Raffy would shout from the baseline, "Brods quiet! Sayang lang, di naman yan papasok!", and sometimes the old dirty fingers wagging before the shooter goes up for his shot.

Of course expect another round of heckling for every blocked shot, steal and acrobatic shot from Tony Perez (who would fix his sidehair after a shot in front of the Mu bench while running back for defense). Marlon Oclarence (Ocla) played the pointguard position. Because the young Phis don't know him, he would always be left open at the top of the keyhole area, for his first 2 open shots, no success. But when he was left open for the 3rd time, he connected a 3! While running backwards for defense, he pointed at the face of his defender while shouting "Bantayan mo ako!", for all to hear.

To their credit, the young Phis were really good. After the 1st quarter, we led by only 2 points, and at the end of half time it was tied. The young players from Phi were quick and athletic with good shooting. There was one poor Phi however with the name Pakks. He is a good player but quite hot on the collar, so he was one of the favorite of our group to heckle. There was even an altercation between him and the star player Tony Perez, so all the brods were shouting "Sandara, sandara, sandara! Then from behind one voice will shout "PAKKS!", of course that will be Jotek. Specially when he fouled out! Poor fellow.

After the 3rd quarter, they were leading by 2 points, of course c/o Maxie Escano's 3 point shot at the end of the quarter. Some of our players were getting tired, until Rodney Dofitas gave a pep talk during a time out, they were all rejuvenated, specially after seeing Rodney getting chunks of ice and icewater from the cooler and splashing it to his head and torso. The Mu players played it very smart. They drove the lane and fished for some fouls. Penalty became the enemy of the Phis, and every foul that they gave was a free throw. The lead balooned to 8 at one point and 2 of the Phis fouled out. Then came Iggy. Gar Eufemio's lips can be read as "Sumusuko na yata sila, pinasok na si Iggy"

In the waning seconds of the game, Jotek went inside the court during a time out and led the whole Mu supporters in shouting 'Walang iiyak, walang iiyak", of course with his trademark yosi on his hand.

When the final buzzer sounded off, the score was 57-50. Best Frat March singing in a long time, inside the court with the Phis in attendance.

I wasn't able to attend the post game inuman in Orchid until 10 PM, when me, rainier, Archie and Jotek arrived, most of the players were still there. Raffy was drunk but still kept on shouting "Pakks u" "Fuc_ing Phi sh_t" and the like. Bunny Valdez, Tony, Ocla, Gar, and the younger brods were still there along with Kups. It was a great day to finish the day.

I was hoarse for 3 days.

PGH Centennial

The Philippine General Hospital celebrated its Centennial Celebrations last Aug 13-17, 2007. Of course, it was a very busy week for us because the whole week was packed with activities. For me, it was very tiring since I'm the protocol officer of the hospital.

Monday was the opening day, and the guest of honor is Vice President Noli de Castro. the day itself is quite stressful, everybody was excited. I had some problems with the staff of VP de Castro, but the day ended with very well. During the afternoon, the Chief of the Civil Service Commission was our guest - Karina Constantino David.

Tuesday is giving recognition to PGH's donors, and the guest of honor is no less than the Speaker of the House Joe de Venecia. Again the event is very stressful, 2 congresswomen attended, most spouses of the senators arrived, and most of our guests came to participate. Again, the day ended well.

Wednesday has no big time activity, just some shows for the employees. However, I came home late since I waited for Judith who had a patient in nearby Manila Doctors Hospital.

Thursday is another big day, the PGH officials went to Malacanang to meet President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. She was so happy with PGH that she gave additional P250M to the hospital. From the palace, I went directly to the Basketball game between Mu vs Phi. That would entail another post from this blog.

Friday is the actual founding day of PGH. In the morning we had the Senate President Manuel Villar as our special guest. During the night, Gary V had a concert benefit for PGH at the Manila Hotel.

It was really a tiring week, but all worth it. During the whole week, there was severe raining in Metro Manila, floods all around. I was thankful that the following Monday was a holiday, so there was a long week end and I was able to spend family time with the kids.

The thing is, additional activities are still lined up in the last week of August, there's the visit of US Amb Kenney and the Oration in PGH of DOH Sec Duque.

Ganda.

Tito Ben

My Tito Ben is one of the younger brothers of Tatay. He is very sick right now in Ospital ng Makati, with lung and heart problems.

He used to look after not only me when I was small, but most of the apos since he did not have a family of his own. He is my companion when I was watching basketball in TV, and taught me the good boxers from the 50's to the 70's.

Hopefully he recovers from his condition right now.

Singapore 2007

It's my 3rd time to visit this city-state, and it still never ceases to make me envious. The first time was 3 years ago, second time was last year, and this year.

You will start to feel the difference upon arriving at the Chang Mai airport. It's a thing of beauty. If the Hong Kong airport looks better but 'cold', the Singapore airport looks 'homey'. As if you don't want to leave the airport, internet wifi is free, decors and plant arrangements inside are gorgeous, and there's a station for their train to connect you to the heart of the city. Very good city planning.

The place is known for their cleanliness, and the reports are very true. Nuff said.

The food is very eclectic. They have Chinese, Malay, Indian, European and American food. The chinese food in HK is better, but you have better variety in Sing.

I was there during the so called-Great Singapore Sale. Electronics have good prices. I always visit the IT malls - Funan and Sim Lim Square - always very tempting to buy, as if the place is Divisoria of electronics. Aside from electronics, much can be bought in Sing, malls, malls and more malls are plenty especially at the Marina and Orchard areas. The prices are almost identical in Manila, though.

Places to see - Esplanade, their cultural center that looks like an armadillo from afar, Clark Quay, its like Malate or Libis but along a riverbank, the Night Safari, imagine a better Manila Zoo that's open at night, Sentosa, an island where beach and aquarium can be seen (like in Subic).

What I dont like in Sing? The name of the streets are very confusing! There's an Orchard Road, orchard avenue, orchard boulevard, orchard street, orchard way, orchard lane - and they are all located near to each other. So if you tell your taxi driver you are going to orchard, you're in trouble.

It's a good place to visit, but I still prefer Manila. Hopefully, manila would be like Sing in my lifetime.

The picture is taken inside the large Suntec Convention Center, with me are my partners Drs Rainier Covar and Happy de Guzman.

Busy

It has been a month since my last post, I'll make up for lost time

I've been to Singapore to attend the 2nd World Glaucoma Congress last July 17-22. The Congress was a big success. The attendance was large, and the convention itself encouraged lots of learning and innovations in the field of glaucoma. I was with my partner and Enzo's ninong, Dr. Rainier Covar during my trip. I'll post pictures in the future posts.

PGH celebrated its Centennial Celebrations last Aug 13-17. It's a week long celebration, and everyday was a highlight day. Like my Singapore visit, I'll post some details of this event in future posts.

My Tito Ben got sick badly. In fact he is still in Ospital ng Makati ICU. He is one of my uncles who raised me when I was still small. This will be also a topic of future posts.

Metro Manila was barraged by storms these past few weeks - heavy rains and floods were evident almost everywhere. This also contributed to my slow postings.

Zia and Enzo got new helpers at home, making our tasks here relatively easier.

Following posts will be detailed.