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Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Oyson: Davao city is smoke-free
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter Punch
I was in Davao City the last five days to join the rest of the sportswriting fraternity who covered the 56th Philippine Airlines Inter-club golf championships. I just could not say no to the personal invitation extended to me by PAL vice president for corporate communications, Rolando A. Estabillo.
It was the fourth Inter-club I went to, besides the ones held before at the old Club Filipino and the Cebu Country Club. Rollie was with us only two days as he had to return early to Manila.
This paper’s sports editor Paul J. Taneo was there. He covered the hard story. Since I arrived there Wednesday I had filed four feature stories through e-mail for this paper.
Sadly enough, not one copy saw print in this paper. It was “unread” on the Inbox all the while. Assistant sports editor Jobannie Tabada explained that he did not notice any of the stories I dispatched because I did not use a code for them which would have alerted him at once.
A WASTE: Anyway, I had told him in advance that I would be going to Davao and would be filing feature stories about the tournament. I filed my last story the day after the Supreme Court released the bar examination results while Juvy G. Neri of the Cebu Country Club was playing in the last round of the tournament. I had written that he is the only golfer in the 56-year history of the PAL Inter-club to learn that he was already a lawyer while putting and par-ring in an official golf tournament.
He even helped his Cebu Country Club Team win the Founders division title for the third straight year. I talked to him on the Apo Golf Club coffee shop after it was officially announced that CCC had retained the championship in its division. But the story, or all my stories never saw print. What a waste! The PAL Inter-club is the annual gathering of the country’s top sportswriters and photographers to work and unwind and relax at the same time.
It is usually covered by the sports editors and their respective sports photographers.
When I mean heavyweights in the sports writing fraternity, I mean exactly that. Who does not know Al Mendoza, Ding Marcelo, Lito Tacujan, Roger Flores, Artemio Engracia Jr., Jimmy Cantor, Dodo Catacutan, Ernie Gonzales, Rey Bancod, Edwin Gabutina, Jon Hernandez, and Jake Ayson? Or Butch Marco of NBN? On hand to make their stay enjoyable and comfortable as possible was PAL-Mactan station manager Simoun Canton Jr.
NO SMOKING. He was with the Cebu scribes on the flight back to Cebu via Manila last Sunday. One thing that a stranger immediately notices in Davao City is that it is almost smoke-free. It was not so in 1997 when I was also there. The city’s comprehensive anti-smoking ordinance prohibits smoking in public places, including hotels and restaurants, except in designated areas. Sales of cigarettes have dropped drastically. At the Davao Pagcor-Casino which I visited the first three nights, I did not see a single ash tray on the gaming tables.
TANGGAL PLAKA: At Waterfront-Lahug it is two ash trays to every table. Davao is considered to be the biggest in the world in land area. Those who buy by the stick find them in small jars, not in cellophane wrappers. The “No-Parking” and “No Loading-Unloading” ordinances are strictly enforced by Davao’s traffic enforcers. There are designated areas where jeepneys can load and unload passengers. Those who wish to park can do so only at curbside. Or far from the streets.
I did not find a single illegally-parked vehicle along the long stretch of MacArthur Highway from our billeting area at Linmarr Apartelle to Apo Golf Club, 14 kilometers away. City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte has launched “Tanggal Plaka” which removes the plates of illegally-parked vehicles, even without then presence of the car owners. The latter claim this constitutes theft. He has driven the bad eggs out of his city and has been accused of human rights violation. To all these charges, Duterte, who has earned the moniker “Dirty Harry,” will only answer” Make my day.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I feel terrible. I think I have been going non-stop since before the All-Star break. And it’s just caught up with me. I’ve aches and chills.” - NBA star Kobe Byrant, after Los Angeles Lakers’ 90-107 loss to the Seattle Sonics, snapping a six-game win streak. (Published in paper March 4, 2003)
(March 5, 2003 issue)
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