SOME singers are better seen than heard and one in particular sang the line I will borrow—oops, I did it again.
Like many times before, my Sunday afternoon deadline for our last scheduled issue arrived and left with me failing to commit anything on paper.
At fault, this time, was the two-day 3rd Judicial and Bar shootfest which was held at the Casey Gun Club, located inside the Tambuli Beach Resort in Lapu-Lapu City.
The shoot was the brainchild of lawyer Ismael Trinidad and Lowell Belar-mino, assistant area coordinator of the local Philippine Practical Shooting Association (PPSA) chapter, made it happen.
It was given a Level 1 sanction by PPSA and I, due to the persuasive powers of one Levi Lopez, was among the 19 range officers who volunteered to man the two-day event.
Levi also found it amusing to assign me to Stage 5, the last of the five-stage course of fire and the only field course. It required 32 rounds to finish and featured 13 static paper targets, two swingers and two mini steel poppers.
No show. A total of 84 shooters took part in the two-day event but noticeably absent were the people the competition was supposed to be held mainly for – the judges.
There were a few lawyers—Carlos Cavada, Leo Cañares, Dominic Yap, Jeoffrey Joaquino and, I guess, a one or two others I failed to shake hands with—but they were nowhere near the numbers the organizers expected.
I personally find it sad because I know a lot of judges as well as lawyers—a sizable number of government prosecutors among them—carry firearms.
Given the possibility of them one day having to hear, defend or prosecute a case involving firearms—depending on their position—I had hoped they would make use of the opportunity to become familiar with the object if not the subject of shooting.
Results. Nevertheless, it was a successful match, especially if you ask those lawyers and court officers and employees who actually came.
Among the lawyers, trophies went to Leo Cañares, Dominic Yap and Jeoffrey Joaquino, Clerk of Court of the 7th judicial RTC division.
Among court employees, the winners were Jeremy Gador, Euberto Letigio and Henry Espinosa, all members of the Judicial Security Group.
Special awards went to Tito Capampangan as the top scoring sheriff and to Marie Leonardo, the only lady shooter among all court employees who, no pun intended, was man enough to join.
Among the regular shooters, trophies went to James Manigos, Brandon Lariosa, Benson Yu, Ronaldo “Noogie” Biagan and Roel Diagon (Standard); Gaga Canonigo, Alex Manzano, myself, Rey Tangapa and Broderick Nabua (Production); Rey Abad, Saldie Tan Un Kheng, Lito Ladroma, Gene Co and Sherwin Tan Un Kheng (Open); Eric Ayag, Pablo Mazo and Jun Liao (Revolver).
Special awards were also given out to Martin Belarmino and Maggie Quiseo for being the top two highest-scoring junior shooters in the Production Division and to Kevin Cortes and Josephine Panimdim over at the Standard event, and to the Tan Un Kheng brothers, Ariel Belarmino and Jay Anthony Yulo over at the Open Division.
Maggie and 15-year-old Alexa Pua, who could have qualified for the juniors had she registered as one, also got trophies for being the highest-scoring ladies in the Production and the Standard events, alongside Marlene Effelberger at the Open Division.
On the other side of the age gap were senior shooters Jaime Manigos and Ric Bono (Production); Roger Uy and Rey Caliva (Standard); and Lito Ladroma and Rudy Quiseo (Open).
Special awards also went to Norli Abellanosa and Conrado Alega, the highest-scoring lawmen in the production event, as well as to Eric Ayag and Pablo Mazo, the highest-scoring lawman shooting revolver.
Levi Lopez, Wilian Tirado and Rudy Marcelo were the highest scoring range officers in the Standard event while Alex Manzano, Chito Hernandez and I were adjudged the highest-scoring range officers shooting production.
(knrama@gmail.com)