GOD permitting, Jake P. Ayson and I will be in Cebu today, March 2. No, not to act as rules men for the PAL Interclub but to oversee the PAL Media Golf on March 3 at the fabled Cebu Country Club and on March 4 at scenic Alta Vista up high in the mountains overlooking Cebu Bay.
It’s a job that Jake and I have learned to love for the longest time.
Devotion to it can only be equaled by our rules men duties at the Fil-Am Invitational in Baguio City every December.
But while we couldn’t play in either Baguio Country Club or Camp John Hay—Fil-Am rules prohibit that—not in the PAL Media Golf, where Jake and I have been regular participants. PAL president Jaime J. Bautista has made sure the rules will not bar Jake and me from joining. We are both legitimate journalists (Jake also writes a golf column, by the way).
The PAL Media golf is basically fun and an occasion to renew ties with colleagues especially from the Visayas (Mike Limpag and Nimrod Quiñones) and Mindanao (Yannie Abalayan, Imee Garcia, Tommy Inigo and Jon Develos, among others).
See you in a bit, guys.
BUDDY. My beer buddy Charlie “The Rock Star” Erojo, who is now with MacroAsia in Davao but who remains a key cog in every PAL Interclub Golf edition for years now, also eagerly awaits our arrival. As the PAL Media shepherd, Charlie always does it with class. I was with Charlie just last week in Davao during the wake and inurnment of Atty. Domeng Duerme, the many-time organizing committee chairman of the PAL Interclub, who suddenly succumbed to liver cancer; he was Charlie’s boss no less at PAL Mindanao for 30-plus years. Charlie and I had beer and “buntot” at Ken Angeles’ Yellow Fin Tuna in Davao but that’s another story.
Kudos also to Nanette Versoza, Paeng Evangelista and Ella Hernandez for their splendid job of manning the PAL Media Center in Cebu (soon to be joined by big boss Josen Perez de Tagle and Joni Gesmundo).
Nanette, Paeng and Ella, together with Lito Hibo, know by heart media moods that sometimes border on the disturbing. Cheers!
And, yes, thank you to Dodo Cuenco of Toyota Cebu. His kindness is beyond compare, as always.