CHEERS FOR THE 27TH YEAR; UPLB ECONSOC CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARY MONTHTHE UPLB ECONOMICS SOCIETY re-cently held a month-long celebration of its 27th year of establishment in the month of February, 2014. Numerous events were held to celebrate the anniversary month of the UPLB EconSoc like the Open Tambayan, Organization’s Executive Committee Elec-tions, Induction ball and Alumni Homecom-ing, Benefit Party, Outreach, and Ekonsehan (a bi-annual general economics quiz contest).

turn to page 4

Inside the Forecast:Editorials: #PrayForTheP-hilippines, Air conditioned Summer, pp. 2- 3

News: Cheers for The 27th Year;UPLB Econsoc Cele-brates Anniversary Month, Econvergence, p. 4- 6

Feature: Confession, Maggie, Letter to The Editor, pp. 7- 8

Sports: Blade of the Future, Rizal Reveals Gilas Pilipinas 17-Man Pool, pp. 9- 10

PSHS BAGS BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIP AT 9TH ECONVERGENCE turn to p. 6

PHILIPPINE SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL MAIN B went home with a back-to-back championship and triumphed over 17 participating schools in this year’s Econ-vergence 2014 held at University of the Phil-ippines Los Baños, last February 8, 2014 with the theme “Enhancing the Philippine Business Environment towards a Competitive Economy.” With a total of 94 points from seven events of Econvergence namely Ekonomika Quiz Contest,

INDUCTION. The newly elected officers as they took oath for the incoming year 2014-2015.

ANNIVERSARY MONTH. In celebration for the 27th anniversary, ECONSOC pays it forward to Puypuy Elementary School (upper) and presents its winners

Last February 24, ABS-CBN News report-ed an alleged mysteri-ous disease in Pangasin-an which coincides a prophecy by a renowned prophet last 2013. The prophets who made the prophecy in the 24th Na-tional Prayer Convention were Vincent Selvaku-mar and Sadhu Sundar Selvaraj. However, DOH claimed the news as a hoax as the two cases of the alleged disease were different cases of leprosy and psoriasis. Iamafirmbeliev-er of faith. I am a Chris-tian and I do believe the prophets Selvakumar and Selvaraj. With the buzz created by the news documentary of Bandila, I did wonder whether I will believe the news or not, whether to accept if the prophecy is already happening or this is just a warning. The fact re-mains that the said rea-sons why the Philippines shall encounter these kinds of tragedies like the disease in Pangasin-an and also the disasters in Bohol, Samar, and Leyte is because we hav-

Hazel Anne AdiqueEditor-in-Chief

Angelico CaldozoAssociate Editor

Venice Requiron Jr.News Editor

Fatimah EpantoFeature Editor

Aljhon CañasSports Editor

Niko Yrastinne HuangEditorial Cartoonist

Hazel Anne AdiqueAngelico Caldozo

Odessa Marie Angeli Ona

Layout Artists

Mohammad Haydrey Aminulla, Maria Con-

cepcion Rebong, Paula Mae Santos, Maricar

Piedad, Ella Mae Orale, Gerard Renz Andog, Jon Raven Austria, Betch Ann Marie de Guzman

Contributors

en’t repented for our na-tion’s sin. Here is an ex-cerpt from the prophecy:

“If you don’t repent and pray, God has planned much destruction all over the Philippines which are very disastrous. The cup of God’s wrath over the Philippines is very very disastrous. There will be much disaster all over the land. The Lord will give you over to flood and waters. The Lord will torture your land with typhoons and hur-ricanes. The Lord will plague the land with diseases. The Lord will punish your land with famine and scattering,” Eventually if the prophecy happens or not, it is still a reminder for all the Filipinos that we should pray for this na-tion, even if our diversity set us to worship differ-ent gods. It is not bad to be cautious at times. It does not lower our ego if we take a second for just a moment of silence. We can’t just talk and post a status on Facebook or tweet our thoughts on

Twitter – we must also act upon it. It does not sim-ply end in #PrayfortheP-hilippines. A bible verse says, “Faith without action is nothing”; one must pray and act on it. Typhoon Yolanda was also allegedly pre-dicted in the same proph-ecy but the efforts of the government came short. Shall we wait for anoth-er disaster to strike be-fore we move an action against it? Let us not deny the fact that we are in per-ilous times, corruption is rampant and poverty is always a threat. It should be in the initiative of ev-ery citizen to take part towards nation building. The news on the myste-rious disease could also be a reminder that not all citizens are reached by the efforts of the govern-ment. It might be a lack on their part. But mind you, the government is not always to blame; it must be the collabora-tion of both the individ-ual and the government. So citizens, fellow Isko-lars, lo and behold, let us all pray and participate.

by Hazel Anne Adique#PrayForThePhilippines

UP System except Diliman is to shift the Ac-ademic Calendar for AY 2014-2015, from present June- March cycle to Au-gust- May. With that be-ing said, the students of the University of the Phil-ippines Los Baños would have an extra two months vacation. When I firstheardofthenews,Ifindithard to believe that the UP would allow sudden rash decisions. And now I ask mind-boggling question: Should Iskolars celebrate?

Let us look at the points at where we can celebrate.

One of the main reasons why UP is rush-ing into the shift of aca-demic calendar is because it wants to synchronize it with other ASEAN Uni-versities (in which we are the only ASEAN country that still adheres to the June to March cycle), in preparation for the ASE-AN Economic Integration that will happen in 2015. UP said that it would gear the whole UP System to-wards global competitive-ness. The move to Au-gust- May cycle is in line with the European and the North American Universi-ties. The Latin American, African, and Australian have their academic cal-endar start in February, right after their summer months.

Student mobili-ty is the also one of the main reasons of the shift. It is the opportunity of the

Filipino students to study in the South East Asia, in America, or in Europe. It would also propel the international students to study here in the Philip-pines. In an argument that is relatively everyone is involved, one of the cons is the fact that the students would not have a “sum-mer break”. Their count-er- reason for that argu-ment is that typhoons are more likely to come in the time where terms are over, thus not affecting any aca-demic days.

But does the pros really enough to outweigh the cons? NO is my short answer. Why?

Impeccably, the Americas, Europeans, and other countries have dif-ferent calendar cycles, but are still obviously global-ly competitive. Still, the argument that aligning it with the American Uni-versities needs to have statistical evidence with the Western Universities would internationalize ASEAN Universities.

According to an article of Solita Monsod of the Philippine Daily Inquirer (2014), there was actually a study by Tokyo University about shifting the calendar in line with the western universities. President Junichi Hama-da wanted to implement it by 2015 but University of Tokyo abandoned the attempt because study that this would entail more negative effects.

Regarding the stu-dent mobility; how many Filipino students are we really talking about? Uni-versity of the Philippines comprises of diversifiedstudents. Many students in the university system are not really capable, financially and academ-ically prepared of study-ing abroad. With this lit-tle group of people, is it enough to have the whole university adjust and ad-here the cons for the few people that would be ad-vantageous?

Shifting the ac-ademic calendar would entail having regular full load classes in the hot summer season days. Ba-sically the students would have no chance of enjoy-ing the summer season and would be stuck in classrooms. Also, UPLB in particular specializ-es on Agriculture. This would definitely affectthe schedule of research on this seasonal based re-search.

Dr. Emmanuel S. de Rios of the UP School of Economics of UP Dili-man stated that the shift would most likely not add anysignificantadvantages

and benefits to students.He said that it would most likely make it more dif-ficult for the students byvirtue of having school in the punishing hot summer months.

The University of the Philippines System is no doubt leading the aca-deme in the Philippines. Basically, the change has already been implanted. It would take place this immediate school year but it is surely reversible. I strongly stand firm thatthere should be more thor-ough research on the ac-ademic calendar shift be-cause it would necessitate many consequences in the end. Rushing the shift would not make it better; for me, the shift is a risk that irrelevant, and would only make the situation worse off.

The whole country sees it to be the pioneer university in the Philip-pines, also in terms of re-search and development; but it fails to research and develop in this scenario. Why risk the whole UP System’s ability to tran-scend where we can devel-op a more stable growth of the university system?

Air-Conditioned Summerby Angelico Caldozo

by Niko Yrastinne Huang

REMEMBER this phrase: “Redefine your Wednesday Night ‘cause the best night of your life is coming!”? That phrase was seen mostly along with the pub-licity teasers, tarpaulins, posters, videos and the like for the Wettest Party of the Semester!, SLOSH: the Rock Your Assets Splash Back! It was held at Java Avenue last 29th of the month of January, 2014. About 600 guests from the UPLB community joined the wettest party of the semester. Rica Garcia and Von Yacob hosted the event and Wyre Underground of UPLB also performed during the event. Every guest was welcomed with a welcome jell-o shot and a ziplock to keep their valuables from getting wet. 50 early birds were given free water guns. All the guests were served with 2 beers and free flowingMixed Drinks. The event was spon-sored by Ginebra San Miguel Blue, Boardwalk and Signe-flex.Indeed,thepartywasablast. Everybody got sloshed in every way possible – wa-

ter guns, sprinklers, and wa-ter balloons. This pushed the guests to be crazy and have the time of their life! The or-ganization sponsors present at the event were: Society of Applied Mathematics of UP (SAM-UP), Society of Math Majors (SMM), The League of Agricultural Engineering Students (NG), the UPLB Genetics Society (GeneSoc), UP Agribusiness Society (BISOK), Sigma Delta Pi, Alyansa ng mga Kabitenyo sa UPLB (ANAK-UPLB), UP Oroquieta (UPO), UPLB Sophia Circle (Sophia), UP Agricultural economics Circle (AEC), UP Entrepre-neurs’ Club (UP EC), UPLB Forestry Society, and UPLB Microbiological Society. All the proceeds of this party will go to the out-reach program prepared by the External Affairs Com-mitteeforthebenefitofPuy-puy Elementary School at Bay, Laguna to continually reach and serve the com-munity. Serving the com-munity while organizing a fun–filledparty iswhatyoudo to redefine one’s day.

SLOSH: THE ROCK YOUR ASSETS SPLASHBACK

CHEERS FOR THE 27TH YEAR; UPLB ECONSOC CELEBRATES ANNIVERSARYMONTH from page 1

AFTER a series of deliber-ations, the 27th set of elect-ed officers of The UPLB Economics Society was formally named as they held their elections on the 5th day of February, 2014 at Lola J’s. Among the 9 nominees in the presiden-cy, Gerard Renz Andog was elected for the position for academic year 2014-2015. Together with Gerard, An-jaylee Bernardo, Vice Presi-dent/ Membership Commit-tee Head; Paula Mae Santos, Secretary; John Jasper Co-riana, Treasurer/ Financial Committee Head; Maria Is-

abelle Matias, Auditor; Mo-hammad Heydrey Aminulla, Education Committee Head; Odessa Marie Ona, Publicity Committee Head; Mia Sara Villanueva, External Af-fairs Committee Head and; Aila Mira Rojales, JPES Junior Representative were elected as officers. Also,Catherine Mercader was promoted from last year’s JPES junior Representative to Senior Representative. The said elections was at-tended and participated by 75 members of the said or-ganization which is enough to hold the said event.

ELECTIONS

The Second Semester’s Ekonsehan was successful-ly held by the UPLB Eco-nomics Society last Febru-ary 20, 2014 at the CPCLH. The Activity was spearhead-ed by the newly elected set ofofficers leadby thenew-ly elected President, Gerard Andog. However, the event was hosted by the outgo-ing president, Frances Inna Siton, and the outgoing Vice-president and Mem-bership Committee Head, Marcus Rei Hementera. An intermission number was given by batch Adaptive Ex-pectations to lift the spirits of the contestants. Out of the 87

teams who participated, this semester’s winner included Jashline Anne Banagale of team Contagion who won first, Isaac Madriaga andMerwin Magboo of team 8ches Soliton who won second and Justney Lar-ranga and Tristan Badang of team 5-sigma who won third. The top three ac-quired 180.5, 170 and 169 points respectively. Ekon-sehan is a bi-annual ECON 11 (General Economics) quiz contest which covers topics discussed in Econ 11 and current event moreover; it is one of the longest run-ning quiz contests in UPLB.

EKONSEHAN

I’M SLOSHED. The party is on as partic-ipants drink their way in this beer drinking game.

In line with its 27th Anni-versary, the UPLB Econom-ics Society held its annual Induction Ball and Alum-ni Homecoming with the theme of “Seven Deadly Sins: Wrath, Greed, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy, and Glut-tony” last February 15, 2015 at Casa de Padrid, Bay, Laguna. The Induction Ball and Alumni Homecom-ing aims to formally accept the new recruits of the orga-nization to its membership and introduce them to the alumni. It also aims to for-mally transfer the duties and obligations of the incum-bent officers to the incom-ing Executive Committee. The ball started with a game prepared by the Pub-licity Committee, where the attendees would have to un-dergo three out of seven sta-tion assigned with a particu-lar deadly sin. Then, batches Complementary Goods, Existence Value, and Adap-tive Expectations showcased their talents by presenting their own batch performanc-es. Subsequently, a game of vice relay was played where alumni and resident would team up and finish their vic-

es. After which, both new recruits and officers took their oath to pledge loyalty, duties, and responsibilities to UPLB Economics Soci-ety. Finally, the Best Dressed Brod and the Best Dressed Sis award were given to Be-lynjohn delos Reyes and Jes-sica Marie Torres. Marcus Rei Hementera and Frances Inna Siton were also award-ed the Brod and the Sis of the night. Mr. Harvey Baldovi-no, Mrs. Amelia Bello, and Mr. Cali Mangilin were also given the Tatay ng EconSoc Award, the Nanay ng Econ-Soc Award, and the Warren Buffet Award respectively. The incumbent Ex-ecutive Committee is com-prised of Frances Inna Siton (President), Marcus Rei He-mentera (Vice-President and Membership Committee Head), Aralyn Embile (Sec-retary), Hacelyn Ramirez (Treasurer and Finance Committee Head), Moham-mad Haydrey Aminulla (Au-ditor), Christine Joy Namu-co (Education Committee Head), Aljhon Canas (Pub-licity Committee Head), Zsaleena Baldo (Eternals Affairs Committee Head),

Ira Martina Balmes (JPES Senior Representative), and Catherine Mercader (JPES Junior Representative). On the other hand, the incoming or the A.Y. 2014-2015 Execu-tive Committee is comprised of Gerard Renz Andog as President, Ajaylee Bernardo as the Vice-President and Membership Committee Head, Paula Mae Santos as Secretary, John Jasper Cori-ana as Treasurer and Finance Committee Head, Ma. Isa-belle Matias as Auditor, Mo-hammad Haydrey Aminulla as Education Committee Head, Odessa Marie Angeli Ona as Publicity Commit-tee Head, Mia Sara Villan-ueva as Externals Affairs Head, Catherine Mercader as JPES Senior Representa-tive, and Aila Mira Rojales as JPES Junior Representative. The new mem-

bers from A.Y. 2013-2014 are: (from Complementary Goods) Vreni Gem Caasi, Charisse Dungca, Aure-lio Paolo Nalica IV, Maria Concepcion Rebong, Aila Mira Rojales, Jessica Marie Torres, Patricia Mae Tua-zon, (from Existence Value) Kirsten Romero, Hazel Anne Adique, Dianna Velasco, Be-lynjohn delos Reyes, (from Adaptive Expectations) Ven-ice Requiron, Raven Austria, Joanna Padrid, Ella Orale, John Christian Ocba, Fati-mah Epanto, Miraflor Cipri-ano, Russell Jed Manzanares, Kristopher Trenchera, Niko Yrastinne Huang, Franklin Higuit, Anna Patricia Bau-tista, Angelico Caldozo, Al-lan Leand Arquilada, Elaine Cariaso, Maricar Piedad, and Jessica Amor Jamisola.WELCOME TO THE UPLB ECONSOC FAMILY!

Continuation of article from page 127TH INDUCTION BALL AND ALUMNI HOMECOMING

As part of its 27th anniversary celebration, the UPLB Eco-nomics Society held its “Open Tambayan” last February 13, 2014 at the CEM Grounds. This event was attended by about 400 people including the organization’s alumni mem-bers and supportive adviser-- Prof. Harvey Baldovino. This was hosted by Mr. Cydrick Venturanza and Ms. Anjaylee Ber-nardo who were very successful in entertaining the guests. The organization received positive comments and a lot of “thank you”s from the attendees after the open tambayan.

OPEN TAMBAYAN

INDUCTION. The previous and incoming executive committees poses for the camera right after the Turnover Ceremony.

CHEERS. ECONSOC in its 27th anniversary celebrates in their Open Tambayan.

PSHS BAGS BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONSHIP AT 9TH ECONVERGENCEImpromptu Speaking Con-test, Essay Writing Con-test, Poster Making Con-test, Photo-Essay Making Contest, Mini-Documen-tary Making Contest, and Intellectual Encoun-ter Debate, PSHS-Main B won over the PSHS-Main A and Collegio San Agustin who got the second and third place. On the other hand, several schools also showed their competitive-ness in the seven events. The following won the 1st place in different events; Los Baños National High School (Photo-Essay Making Contest), De La-salle University Integrat-ed School (Impromptu Speaking Contest), Ate-neo De Manila Universi-ty (Intellectual Encoun-ter Debate), University

of the Philippines Rural High School (Mini-Doc-umentary), Dingras Na-tional Highschool (Post-er Making Contest), Collegio San Agustin Biñan and PSHS-Main B (Essay Writing Contest). The 9th Econvergence would not be possible without the help of the Education Committee event heads; John Chris-tian Ocba (Ekonomika Quiz Contest), Aila Roja-les (Impromptu Speaking Contest), Arriane Aguirre (Essay Writing), Rhinna San Juan (Poster Making Contest), Monique Dumo-ran (Photo-Essay Making Contest) , Johanna Malang and Mohammad Haydrey Aminulla (Intellectual Encounter Debate) and Judges; Professor Ame-lia Bello and Miss Donna Faye Bajaro (Ekonomika Quiz Contest), Geofferson Ting, Mark Ian Brillante and John Ray Lomugdang (Impromptu Speaking Contest), Pamela Joana Rocamora and Professor Rodger Valientes (Essay Writing Contest), Jonah Marie Burlaza and Rhoy Tejada (Poster Making Contest), Calixto Man-gilin (Photo-Essay Mak-ing Contest), Professor Harvey Baldovino and Professor Jefferson Ara-

poc (Mini-Documentary Making Contest), Clinton Ronquillo, Gino Reichert and Ejay Pine (Intellec-tual Encounter Debate). In nine successful years, it is the first time thatthe Economics Teachers Convention (ETC) was held as one of the events of Econvergence. The aim of the ETC was to integrate economic con-cepts in the high school level. With Professor Harvey Baldovino of the Department of Econom-ics UPLB, high school teachers participated ac-tively in the convention. Econvergence also conducted the Econom-ics Forum discussing this year’s theme: “Enhancing the Philippine Business Environment towards

a Competitive Econo-my.” The guest speaker in the said event is Atty. Apolo XC Sangalang. E c o n v e r g e n c e aims to uphold apprecia-tion of economics through an inter-high school aca-demic economic conven-tion that discusses the cur-rent relevant social issues faced by our country. It is hosted by the UPLB Eco-nomics Society lead by the Education Committee Head Miss Christine Joyce Namuco. UPLB Econom-ic Society is a recognized academic organization of BS Economics students of University of the Philip-pines Los Baños and also an active organization member of Junior Philip-pine Economics Society.

ECONVERGENCE. ECONSOC exhibit (upper), winners for the INTELLECTUAL DEBATE ENCOUNTER (lower)

ECONVERGENCE. Zsaleena Baldo and Cydrick Venturanza as hosts for this years ECON-VERGENCE.

I miss the way you made me smileEven if it’s only for a whileI miss the things we used to doBut I still miss you most, no matter what I do.

I thought that this feeling would never endBut I found out that it’s hard to defendIt’s not ev-ery minute that I could pretendIf I have a heart that could not mend

I know I’ve learned some-thing from thisAside from having an awesome kissYour love is surely hard to resistAnd that is what I’ll always miss

I believe someday you’ll be right backTo hug me tight and give me a smackNo matter what I have to do…I will always wait for you.

Wait For Youby Fatimah Epanto

Ikaw ang saksi,Sa bawat kirot at liksi,Sa bawat lungkot at saya,Sa bawat pagbagsak at pagpasa,Sa bawat lukso at pagtibok ng puso,Sa bawat hapdi na dulot ng pagkabigo,Sa bawat pagod na nararamdamanAt sa bawat pag-asang kinakapitan.

Mapa-seryoso man o kalokohan,Ikaw ang saksi at tinatakbuhan,Nagsisilbing silong sa mainit na araw,Nakakapagpagaan kahit sa konting pagtanaw,Tambayan mula umaga hanggang gabiKung san may mga nakaupo sa bawat tabiTagpuan para sa kahit anong bagayTagapakinig ng mga kwento, chismis at hinanakit sa buhay.

Saksi sa bawat away, tampuhan at di pagkakaunawaanGayundin sa pamilyang wagas ang pagmamahalanMapa-anong henerasyon, pag si Maggie ang nagging usapan,Nagkakaintindihan at syang binabalikbalikan.

-Favorite Sis

MAGGIE

“Tingin mo kapag sinabi mong mahal mo ako, mama-halin na din kita? Hindi ganoon yon. Hindi simpleng pali-tan ng nararamdaman ang pag-ibig. Alam kong hindi ma-dali para sayo ang sabihin sa’kin ‘to pero mas mahirap kasi para sa’kin na intindihin ang sitwasyon ko. Yung bestfriend ko, mahal niya ako. Pero yung best friend niya ang mahal ko. ”

Nanatiling tahimik ang pareho sa mahabang panahon. Tila nabig-la sa mga salitang nabitiwan. Pero alam nilang totoo ang mga sali-tang naibato at ito ang gusto at kailangan nilang sabihin sa isa’t isa.

“Alam kong masakit pakinggan, pero totoo. Mahal ko ang best friend mo at hindi ko siya kayang ipagpalit sa kahit kanino. Kahit sa’yo. ”

Sa maraming istorya, palalabasin na ang mga taong nagmama-hal ng best friend ng best friend niya ay kontrabida. Pero iba ang istoryang ito. Sa istoryang ito, lahat bida. Kanya kanyang pananaw sa sitwasyon. Sa istoryang ‘to, pare-pareho lang sil-ang umiibig. Pare-parehong dumaramdam. Pare-parehong nasa-saktan. At ang istoryang ‘yun ay tinatawag na tunay na buhay.

CHAPTER # __

CONFESSIONS “I never com-pete against compe-tition. The only one I compete against is my-self, because one day I will beat the compe-tition and then who will I compete against?”In our everyday lives, competition is always said to be there. It runs in every people’s blood. It wrecks the mind of people that sometimes may cause war, crimes, death and other miser-ies. It was said that with-out competition, there would be no winners, there would be no los-ers. But the question is to whom we need to com-pete just to attain fame, those rewards, those gratitude and those lux-uries. Actually, there’s a question that has been trembling my mind for a very long time. And this question is: “why do we need to compete just to be on top if we can be on top without compet-ing with one another?” I know it is hard

by Fatimah Epanto

Letter to the EditorDear Editor,

Mahal ko si Sis, pero tinapos niya rin ang relasyon namin. Nakakapagod na umibig, lahat naman ay ibinigay ko na. Pero, kung mayroong true love, bakit marami ang hindi umiibig muli matapos masaktan?

Love,Heartbroken Brod

Dear Heartbroken Brod,

Naiintindihan ko ang iyong pinagda-raanan. Ngunit ang iyong pagkakamali ay iyong panananaw sa true love. Ang true love kasi hindi nasusukat sa “forever”. Ito ay na-susukat sa mga sandaling nagiging magagan-dang ala-ala kasama ang iyong minamahal. Marahil tunay nga ang iyong pag-ibig, pero baka hindi para sa kanya ang iyong pag-ibig. Umibig ka sa tamang panahon ngunit sa maling tao. Nawa’y pagnilayan mo ito.

Nagmamahal,The Editor

to understand, but it is as simple as this, we are fond of comparing ourselves to other peo-ple, just like comparing our answers in some as-signments, just to know whether our answers are correct or not. And once we discover that it is different among the others, we tend to force that our answer is the right one. And thus, comparison is within. Comparison is present in the market, in politics, in studies, in debate, in economic progress and in every aspect of our lives. It de-notes that without com-petition, there would be no indicator of winners and losers, right? And that’s what I used to think since then. I spent almost four years of my life in this self-centered way of thinking- as if winning over someone is the only way to make me feel contented, sa-tiated and fulfilled. But everything changes

as I enter the gate of University of the Philip-pines- Los Banos where I’ve been surrounded by whiz kids, free and open-minded people. It widens my mind and brings me to sudden profound realizations. Why do we need to compete with others if our opponent is not the person on the other side but our own selves? Yes, it is ourselves that we need to defeat just to be on the top. It is ourselves that we need to fight because there is something within our-selves that is strong and hinders us from being great and the best. But once we overcome those hindrances and weaknesses, you don’t have to compare your-self with others any-more. You don’t need to step on the others’ ego just to say that you are a leader. And from then on, you would be on the top- the great-est and best that you

can be- not over the others but over your-self. And for me, it is just enough, not to ful-fill others’ expectations but to fulfill your own ex-pectations on yourself. And now, I am not in competition with any-body but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance. At the end, I want to be able to say, “I gave it all, I gave it my best.”

We skaters arrive wounded, limping, the aches –

beneath the skin you will see the terrible

brutality of what we must do to our bodies.

Ice, we know, is cold, a sharp pain of brittle

light – but ice is hard, it will not give,

It bites back, before melting sardonically.

I leap, torque and flow, my mind whispers,

flight is lifting the weight of the world,

And there are no white rose petals to land upon.

Here in this humid islands, the mall owner

is kind to build a rink, but he thinks the ice is smooth

as glass, slick, even. He would not know

the bubbles and fissures of the uneasy ice,

the physics of the crystals, and the way the ankles

twist and contort to hold a smooth line –

come closer, turn of the mu-zak, listen

to the crunch and yelp of the ice breaking

away against the steel’s bite, and hear the pop

of my bones and the wheeze of all tendons

before the leap – hear the deep grunt

of anticipation as I lift, the body already

alert to the blow of my land-ing – and only

for that small moment, of clothes flapping,

in the miracle of the second turn; only

then, when the dizzying of lights spinning,

colors hurled at me, in the second of lift

and the yank downwards, only then

can you call my body smil-ing – then comes

the brute ache, of landing, splintering ice,

ankle howling, such painful, painful beauty.

With his shy smile, expressive eyebrows and thin frame, you wouldn’t expect that this teenager can catch the attention, not only the sports enthusiasts’ but the whole world’s eyes. Car-rying the flag of his country to an unusual event, this boy proudly walks towards the path that will lead to his greatness and success, to a place where he’ll in-spire many people, espe-cially his fellow Filipinos. Michael Christian Martinez is the name. A teenager from Muntinlupa City who became the first figure skater ever to rep-resent a South East Asian country to the prestigious Winter Olympics this 2014 held in Sochi, Russia. He is also the lone representative of the country to the event. After displaying his charm and impressive skills in the short program, he qualified for the free skate event (finals/medal round) after garnering 64.81 points, his sea-son’s best, e n o u g h f o r him t o

placed 19th overall.BRIEF PERSONAL AND CAREER PROFILEMichael is the youngest of three children. He has an asthmatic bronchitis when he was young which hin-ders him to participate and develop different outdoor sports. Ice skating came to his sight when he was eight years old while roaming a shopping mall. Mesmer-ized after seeing skaters perform in the rink, he then tried figure skating. His mother, Maria Teresa Martinez supported the de-sire of her son in pursuing a career in figure skating. He competed in different figure skating competitions locally and internationally. He made his international debut at the Junior Grand Prix Series in 2010. But it was in 2012 when he won

his first (also first for the Philippines) senior inter-

national title at Crystal

S k a t e

Romania, then finished 5th in the World Junior Cham-pionships. Michael with the support of his mom con-tinued to compete world-wide and it was the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy, where he finished 7th, gave him a chance to compete in 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.Despite of his success in figure skating, Martinez still faced difficulties along his career and the most painful to it were injuries. He already tore his liga-ments, fractured his ankle and got a cut caused by his own skating shoes’ blade.Such achievement of a young man truly inspires others. Michael and his mother faced many chal-lenges and were able to survive. He proved that winter sports were not only for those countries covered with ice, but also to tropical countries who houses tons of talents. With great deter-mination and positive out-look, we can compete and conquer, not only in sports, but even in our real life. Let us support our athletes and let us all walk

towards the path, that will lead us to our

greatness a n d suc-cess!

Blade of the Future by Aljhon CañasThe Wounded

DancerFor skater Michael Christian Martinez

By Guggenheim fellowship winning poet Kwame Dawet

FROZEN. Michael Christian Martinez skates his way to the finals in the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia.

GAME ON. Featuring the men selected for this years Philippine representatives for the Basketball cup in Spain.

Reyes reveals Gilas Pilipinas 17-man PoolFIBA World Cup is fast approaching, so as the developments in the Philippine National Bas-ketball Team, popularly known as Gilas Pilipi-nas, as head coach Chot Reyes announced the 17 man pool for the na-tional team that will vie for the Basketball Cup this August in Spain. Gilas players that were part of the FIBA Asia Championship jour-ney, namely, Jimmy Ala-pag (TnT), Japeth Agu-ilar (BGSM), Jeff Chan (RoS), Gary David (Mer-alco), naturalized Mar-cus Douthit, Junemar Fajardo (SMB), Larry Fonacier (TnT), Gabe Norwood (RoS), Ra-nidel De Ocampo (TnT), Marc Pingris (SMCM), LA Tenorio (BGSM) and Jayson ‘Castro’ William (TnT), were still includ-ed in the 17-man pool.Completing the list were Beau Belga of Rain or Shine Elasto Painters, Greg Slaughter of Brgy. Ginebra San Miguel Kings, Mar-cio Lassiter of San Miguel Beermen, Jared Dillinger of Meralco Bolts and new-comer Paul Lee of Rain or Shine Elasto Painters. But with the de-velopment in the natu-

ralization of NBA and Brooklyn Nets Center An-dray Blatche, wherein the naturalization bill filed in the congress passed the final reading, the Nets cager will become the 18th member of the Gilas pool. Because FIBA allows only one natu-ralized player in each national team, Blatche will challenge Douthit for the lone naturalized player spot in the team. The team started their once a week practice last March 3 until such time that it can hold its reg-ular practices and camps. Gilas Pilipinas will play in the FIBA World Cup after bagging the sil-ver last FIBA Asia Cham-pionship and will compete Seville for the Prelimi-nary Rounds. It’s been 40 years since Philippines compete in the event.

by Aljhon Cañas

Philippine National Football Team, known as the ‘Azkals’ earned a scoreless draw and a tough 1-nil loss during their International Friendlies ear-lier this March as they wind up their build-up for the AFC Challenge Cup sched-uled this May in Maldives. With the debut of the new Azkals coach, Thom-as Dooley saw his side end-ed in a scoreless draw, 0-0, against the fierce XI of Ma-laysia who threw in barrage of shots on goal but all failed to end at the back of the net. With the new system of the coach, who is also a for-mer US skipper, Azkals played short passes and more accurate movements rather than the usual long passes they used to do during Hans Michael Weiss post. The team also used 4-2-3-1 formation for a more balance and mobile attack and defense. Coach Dooley tapped the services of Phil Young-

husband, Jeffrey Christiaens, Misagh Bahadoran, Chris Greatwich, Rob Gier, Juani Guirado, Mark Hartmann, Pat-rick Reichelt, Jason De Jong, Marwin Angeles, Anton Del Rosario and newbies like Pat-rick Deyto, Ruben Doctora Jr., Simone Rota, Martin Steu-ble and Kenshiro Daniels for the Harimau Malaya face-off. But the Azkals bowed to a 1-nil hard fought football against the higher ranked and bigger Azerbaijan National Team. This is the first time that the Philippines played against a European team for a long time. Coach Dooley again used its own system against the 93rd-ranked nation using the services of our top Fil-Foreign reinforcements like Stephan Shrock, Jerry Lucena and Javier Patiño together with the players tapped for the Malaysia match. After giving up a goal through a header in the first half, the Azkals put up a tough fight in the second half creat-ing many chances but that’s not enough to register a point. The Azkals will re-sume its training in April and May by conducting camps in Qatar and Bahrain.

Azkals eye Challenge Cup Title; preparation shifts to high gearby Aljhon Cañas