Banned from FIFA confab, will Nyok fly to New York?

"A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it." George A. Moore

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Sources from the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) here informed us recently that Bacolod City Mayor Monico "Nyok" Puentevella will be among the Philippine government officials who will grace the 117th Philippine Independence Day, which will be celebrated in a grand parade on June 7, here.

Puentevella's presence should be necessary since Bacolod's Masskara Festival has been reportedly invited to participate in this year's parade of Philippines festivals.

We will have a press conference this afternoon (June 2) at the office of PhilippineConsul General Mario L. de Leon Jr. where Philippine Ambassador Albert del Rosario will reportedly arrive from Washington, D.C. in relation to the big activity on Sunday.

Three days ago, we learned that Puentevella was prevented from traveling to Switzerland to attend the International Football Federation (FIFA) congress because of the pending graft case filed against him when he was a congressman.

ABORTED

We remember Puentevella's aborted trip to Switzerland when the PIDCI sources informed us the 68-year-old mayor of the "City of Smiles" would be arriving here for the Philippine Independence Day Parade.   

If he wasn't able to attend the FIFA congress in Switzerland as board member of FIFA's marketing and television committee which was only days ago, can he be allowed to attend the Philippine Independence Day parade in the United States on June 7?

Since Puentevella has a U.S. visa, he can travel to the US anytime except if there is a hold departure order against him.

We presumed that any elected official with pending graft case does not lose his right to travel especially if it involves an activity about Philippine festivals or commemoration of historical events.

We saw Puentevella in Las Vegas during the Mayweather versus Pacquiao rumble on May 2, thus we conclude that the United States did not ban him from entering here in relation to sports, festivals and other important events.

CONVICT

And besides, Puentevella has not been convicted of any crime. 

A graft case does not make a person criminal unless proven otherwise.

A graft case can't curtail any person's right to move around and travel abroad to attend in activities related to his function as a public official. 

This year, noted area lawyer and community leader Reuben S. Seguritan will be the Grand Marshal for the Philippine Independence Day Parade.

Seguritan was the founding President of PIDCI when it was incorporated on February 14, 2002.  He also co-founded the Filipino American Human Services, Inc. (FAHSI), a leading New York organization that provides social services to disadvantaged Filipinos, according to its website.

Seguritan was presented to the community by the Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) at the official residence of the Philippine Consul General in New York, Ambassador Mario L. de Leon, Jr. at a dinner and merrymaking-in-the season event last December 8, 2014, attended by close to 100 community who’s who.

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NOTE: The Damayan Migrant Workers Association, iAmerica and 1199SEIU will provide free immigration services and free health services for uninsured/low-wage workers in the "Free Health and Immigration Fair" during the Philippine Independence Day celebration on Madison Avenue between 25 and 26 Streets, next to Madison Square Park...It's been raining in the Big Apple since May 31. We are hoping that the weather will improve during the parade...The Philippine Independence Day Council, Inc. (PIDCI) is an umbrella organization of Filipino American associationns based on the East Coast. It is principally dedicated to promoting history, the cultural heritage and traditions of the Filipino people through the celebration of Philippine Independence Day, hence, the name. But there is more to PIDCI than its name implies. Jojie Jalandani, an RN from Victorias City, Negros Occidental, was the council president in 2010-2011.  

A draw that meant ‘victory’

“Football is like life - it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.” Vince Lombardi

By Alex P. Vidal

THERE was a time when Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam wouldn’t be satisfied even after blanking the Philippines in men’s football in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games.
Indonesia was not happy either even if it bundled out the Philippines, 7-0.
The Indons wanted a humiliating 11-0 or even 17-0 (that’s too much insult to bear for the Filipinos).
Those were the years when the Azkals XI wasn’t yet organized.
With most national team members are now naturalized citizens--half British and half Filipino like the Younghusband brothers, among other foreign recruits with Filipino blood, the Philippines, otherwise known as “Azkals”, has ceased to become a David in the field of Goliaths.  
Against the amazing Thailand, a scoreless draw can be considered as a “victory” for the Philippines’ Azkals XI in the first leg of their AFF Suzuki Cup semifinals clash at the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on Saturday (November 6, 2014).
Currently ranked 144th in the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the Thailand national football team, entered in the tournament as “Thailand War Elephants”, is the No. 1 football team in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region.

NEVER WON

The Philippines has never won a match in its last 14 international encounters with the Thais.
Since 1972, our national booters have been the Thais’ favorite whipping boys.
The Azkals XI, in fact, was lucky to escape defeat after Thai forward Adisak Kraisorn was sent off in the final 21 minutes of the match.
Kraisorn received a red card when he appeared to catch Azklas XI defender Amani Aguinaldo with an elbow to the face after an altercation between the pair in the centre circle.
“However, the hosts failed to capitalize on having an extra man, leaving both teams with all to play for in the return match at Bangkok's Rajamangala Stadium on Wednesday. The winner of the tie will face either Vietnam or Malaysia in the final later this month,” reported the FIFA.
FIFA described the opening half of Saturday's semi-final as “a disappointment with neither side able to carve out a clear cut opportunity.”
The match came to life after the interval with Perapat Notechaiya firing narrowly wide for the visitors from a tight angle, while the hosts felt aggrieved when Phil Younghusband was unable to get a clear shot on goal after losing his footing following a Suttinun Phukhom challenge.

CLOSEST

Thailand went closest to breaking the deadlock in the 55th minute as Charyl Chappuis burst into the Azkals box and saw his shot run across the face of the Philippines' goalmouth Sarawut Masuk just failing to make contact with the ball at the unguarded far post.
“The feisty encounter boiled over in the 69th minute when Adisak was dismissed but the hosts could not make the most of the extra man with Younghusband going closest with a shot from the edge of the box that was easily stopped by Thai goalkeeper Kawin Thammasatchanan,” FIFA reported.
The match began around two hours before typhoon Ruby or Hagupit made landfall in the Philippines.
It went ahead despite tournament organizers warning it could be cancelled in the event of severe weather.
PAGASA confirmed storm Ruby crashed into the eastern part of the country with gusts of 210 kilometers (130 miles) an hour, while also bringing heavy rain to the densely populated capital of Manila to the north.

FIFA, Azkals can’t snatch away Ilonggos’ madness with NBA

FIFA, Azkals can’t snatch away

Ilonggos’ madness with NBA

“When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.”

George Washington Carver

By Alex P. Vidal

Ask any Ilonggo sports fan—young and old-- in the street about the National Basketball Association (NBA) nowadays and he can tell us lengthily about LeBron James, Blake Griffin, Kobe Bryant, Marc Gasol, Derrick Rose, and Russell Westbrook – all NBA leading superstars in this generation.

Ilonggo sports enthusiasts are not only familiar with James Yap, Asi Taulava, Jun Mar Fajardo, Jason Castro, Jayve Casio, among other top PBA cagers today, but can also recite statistics about NBA’s Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, LaMarcus Aldridge, Stephen Curry, and Paul Millsap,  to mention a few.

Basketball is arguably the No. 1 sport of the Ilonggos and Filipinos in general, including those living in other countries exposed to other outdoor and indoor sports. Next to politics, basketball is the country’s national passion. In between is Manny Pacquiao’s KO demonstrations.

Ask the same fan (unless, of course, he is a true-blue sportswriter) if he knows Zinedine Zidane, Thiago Silva, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Paulinho, Roberto Baggio, Fernando Hierro, and David Villa-- all FIFA World Cup legends, and he will surely pause for a while before giving us a blank stare. FIFA World Cup is the world’s most popular sporting event next only to the World Summer Olympic Games, but Ilonggos or Filipino fans for that matter, remember FIFA World Cup only when media start to make a noise and flood the sports pages and internet with news about how rich countries in Europe and Africa treat the event as a global phenomenon. FIFA World Cup enters into an Ilonggo fan’s imagination as soon as he sees a football field in the newspapers and TV clips; as soon as front pages drumbeat the huge event that it is now “FIFA World Cup time!”

YOUNGHUSBANDS

Ilonggo fans, of course, know James and Phil Younghusband as Akzals brother heartthrobs like they know their kindergarten classmates, but they can hardly recall with complete familiarization other prominent booters in the team that recently made waves in the AFC Challenge Cup in Maldives. Without the presence of the handsome Filipino-British football players, Ilonggos can remember only their very own Ian Araneta and Chieffy Caligdong, both of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo. 

Several days from now, the 2014 FIFA World Cup will unfold in Brazil. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) event has triggered a global frenzy, and fans are already agog over the sophistication and hoopla that attended the preparation stages arranged by gigantic sponsors. Yet, Ilonggos are still enmeshed on the suspense and thriller whipped up by the NBA play-offs in both the Eastern and Western conferences among San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma Thunder, Miami Heat, and Indiana Pacers. Many of them don’t give a hoot about the pre-tournament predictions that Brazil would steamroll Argentina in the finals. Too early to speculate for those oddsmakers.

In the early 70s, a Chinese karate instructor ushered us to Golden Theater, a downtown moviehouse in Iloilo City, to watch “Game of Death” starring Bruce Lee, known as “Hai Tien” in the film. Tien was a retired champion martial artist who was confronted by the Korean underworld gangs.

Our Chinese karate instructor wanted us to study the movements of Bruce Lee and how he defeated in the Pagoda tournament Filipino Eskrima master Dan Inosanto and Korean Hapkido master Ji Han Jae. As elementary pupils, we actually knew little things about the legendary Bruce Lee and the karate styles he was employing to outwit his rivals.

What caught our attention was the very tall bemoustached black man, who engaged Bruce Lee in a bloody and full-contact karate showdown that had the audience on the edge of their seats.  He was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who fought with a free and fluid style mirroring Lee's Jeet Kune Do. Because Abdul-Jabbar's character has great size and strength in addition to a fighting style as potent as Lee's, he could only be defeated once Bruce Lee or Hai recognized that an unusually high sensitivity to light was his greatest weakness. Ergo, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar became the man of the hour.

FIGHTS

Instead of focusing on Bruce Lee’s fights, everyone was now talking about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. ) and how he acquired the Muslim name after piloting the Milwaukee Bucks in his first NBA title in 1971 at age 24. If Jabbar were a candidate for a national office in the Philippines, he would be a sure winner given his tremendous popularity that skyrocketed further after the Game of Death film.

Even in the sixties and seventies, NBA was very popular among Filipino cage fans. During the martial law years when cable TV and internet were not yet around, Filipinos were already infatuated with the NBA even at the height of the PBA Crispa Redmanizer vs Toyota rivalry in the 70’s.

Only Manny Pacquiao’s fight can rival the best-of-seven series between two NBA teams. When the NBA finals unwrap several days from now in time for the opening of the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, we will know which event will get the immediate attention of Ilonggo fans.