Good luck to Philippine Junior Powerlifting Team!!!

As a proud aunt, I am wishing my nephew and his teammates the best of luck. The four of them, all Philippine junior record holders, are leaving tomorrow to compete in the 2011 World Sub-Junior and Junior Powerlifting Championships in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada from August 29 to September 4, 2011.

The team was interviewed yesterday on Channel 4's Teleradyo Sports. Here's Part 1 of the interview:

and Part 2 (my nephew Clark is shown in the frame):

The team is composed of 18-year old Regie Ramirez, [my nephew] 17-year old Clark Cruz, 18-year old Lucas Lorenzo and 17-year  Raymond Debuque. The  delegation is headed by their coach Eddie Torres and assistant coach Allan Paje.

Ramirez who graduated from Valencia High School in Ormoc City, will compete in the 53kg class. He is the 2011 National Open Powerlifting Champion (59kg class), the 21011 National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Champion (53kg class), 2011 Asian Sub-Junior Bench Press Chamption (56kg class), 2011 Visayas Open Champion (56kg class), 2011 Visayas Open Best Lifter awardee and holder of 19 Philippine records - 8 junior, 10 sub-junior and 1 open record.





Cruz, a student of De La Salle Zobel, is the 2011 national Open Powerlifting Champion (74kg class), 2011 National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Champion (83kg class), 2010 Asian Sub-Junior Bench Press Bronze medalist (75kg class), 2010 National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Champion (75kg class), 2010 National High School Champion (75kg class). He is the holder of 22 Philippine records -  9 junior, 9 sub-junior and 4 open.


Lorenzo, a student of Ateneo de Manila, is the 2011 National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Champion (93kg class), 2011 National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Best Lifter awardee, 2010 Luzon Open Powerlifting Champion (93kg class), 2010 Asian Sub-Junior Bench Press Silver medalist (75kg class), 2010 National Bench Press Sub-Junior Champion (82.5kg class) and 2010 National High School Champion (82.5kg class). He is the holder of 14 Philippine records - 5 junior, 5 sub-junior and 4 open.



Debuque, a student at the University of the Phlippines, is the 2011 National Open Powerlifting Champion (120kg class), National Open Sub-Junior Bench Press Champion (120kg class), 2010 Asian Sub-Junior Bench Press Champion (125kg class), National Sub-Junior Powerlifting Champion (125kg class) and 2010 National College Champion (125kg class). He has set 11 Philippine records - 5 junior, 5 sub-junior and 1 open.  

The four teeners will compete against strong contenders from the United States, Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Finland. Among the other countries participating are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denamrk, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Puerto Rico, South Africa, Sweden, Uzbekistan and Venenzuela.  A total of 294 young powerlifters from 28 countries will compete in this event.

Please pray for the Philippine team and for their safety!! Go Junior Powerlifting team!!!

Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicate "Cant Stop" to Filipinos

AsiaWorld arena was like a Manila venue on August 9, 2011.  A lot of Filipinos flew to Hong Kong to watch the kickoff of Red Hot Chili Peppers world tour concert.

Lead vocalist Anthony Kelidis dedicated his second song "Cant Stop" to us pinoys!! He said, "How are you Hong Kong? I'd like to hear a little bit now from the Filipinos in the audience. This is for you."
watch here:

Birthday wish: help "I dive Culion" Project in Palawan

Isla Culion

Dear Friends,

My birthday is coming up in a few days and this year, I want to do something different. Instead of the usual fanfare celebrating, I've decided to help others and give back to the community.

Since I am passionate about diving, I've decided to help the people of Culion through the "I dive Culion" project that my diver friend Memey is leading together with Father Xavier Alpasa, SJ.

Culion is an island situated at the northernmost part of Palawan in the Phlippines, about an hour away by boat from Coron (Busuanga).  Some of you may remember that Culion used to be a leper colony.

In 1904, during the American period, the then Civil Governor Luke E. Wright signed the transfer of jurisdiction and control of Culion from the Municipality of Coron; and hence, the island has been established as a leper colony. In 1988, the administrative control of the island was transferred from the Department of health to the Municipality of Culion, ending nearly one century of administrative control by the health department.

In 2006, the World Health Organization declared the island free of the disease.

Please note that the "I dive Culion" project is only one of the components of the Isla Culion, Hotel Maya social entreprenurship program of Fr. Alpasa.  His vision is to make the once shunned leper colony, self-sufficient through ecotourism.

As a diver, I want to help create and make the planned dive facility sustainable and income generating. The target is to open a dive center on the island on December 8, 2011. At present, most of the dive centers are located in Coron.

The first step is to train a local as a divemaster. Memey has identified a local "Renli" to undergo dive training from open water to divemaster in Coron.  He needs support as follows:

1. Transportation allowance to Coron for training (P120 one-way x 24 trips) = P2,880
2. Open Water course to start on July 21 - P15,000
3. Advance Open Water course to start on August 21 - P12,000
4. Rescue Course to start on September 21 - P12,000
5. Payment for EFR - P5,000
6. Dive Master Course to start on October 2011 - P31,000

The total cash support to cover Renli's training amounts to P77,800. By the way, he also needs a buoyancy compensator (BC) and regulator to complete his gear. A kind soul already gave him mask and fins.

Of course, aside from training Renli to become a divemaster, the following are also needed:
- dive equipment (in good condition) for the dive shop
- and support for the coral reef protection program

The next step is to educate the residents of Culion (at a later date) on how to protect their environment and preserve their reefs so that eventually, it will be an ecotourism area that will give them employment opportunities.

I do hope I can appeal to your kind hearts to help the "I dive Culion" project. This is either in cash or in kind. I will be visiting and diving there next month - during the four day weekend, and if you want to join, please do drop me a note.

I've always believed that life is short, opportunities are few and I have only so much energy.. So I'm taking this opportunity and focusing my energy on "I dive Culion" as my personal social responsibility this year. I will for sure see it through the d-day on December 8, 2011.

Let me end by sharing what Martin Luther King Jr. said "Life's most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?" Thank you and God bless.

Most reliable weather forecast site: WindGuru.com!

It's the rainy season alright but strange that its way too hot. I guess we can all point at climate change for this bizarre unpredictable weather. I can no longer rely on my usual weather sources -  AccuWeather and even  Weather Underground-  since lately, both have been pretty off. So, for this weekend's beach plan, I am happy to be introduced to WindGURU.

WindGuru is the preferred site for most windsurfers and kitesurfers. It can provide forecasts in any place on the planet. For the Philippines, it has 36 spots to choose from and I'm pretty sure its all the popular surf destinations. The site gives a forecast for the next few days in increments of  3-hours starting at 05-hour. There is a disclaimer though that the data provided should not be deemed as the official forecast. According to the site, "What you see is only raw model data in human readable format, it's up to you how to interpret it. Please note that models are only models..., predicting weather is extremely difficult task and these models are very complicated, if the forecasts are not perfect, it's normal."

The forecasts are shown in tables indicating the wind speed and direction including the wave height and period, temperature, cloud cover, precipitation in milimeters for every 3 hours and the wind rating.   So, if I do go to Subic this weekend, the weather forecast is: