MANDY EDUQUE
Jose Armando Eduque y Ledesma, born on June 1, 1945, began driving in local car rallies in 1977. In 1979, he finished first in Group 2 of the Fia-sanctioned ASEAN International IV Rally in the Philippines.
When car racing was banned in the Philippines in 1979 as a result of the oil crisis, Eduque went abroad to attend competition driving courses. In 1982, he attended the Bondurant School of High Performance Drive at Sears Point, California, then flew to England in 1983 to enroll in the Rally Racing School at Silverstone, and later at the Bill Gwynne Rally School in Banburry.
Rally car racing returned to the less travelled back roads of the Philippines in 1982. Eduque scored his first comeback rally victory in December that year at the Rally ng Bulacan, driving a Ford Escort RS2000 with navigator Rody Cruz beside him.
From 1984 to 1989, Eduque focused on Fiasanctioned rallies abroad, such as the Lucky Strike Rally of Malaysia, the Hong Kong-beijing
Rally, the Rally of New Zealand, the Macau Grand Prix Ghia Race Saloon Group A, and the Rally of Australia (WRC).
He had better luck locally, placing third overall in the 1985 and 1988 Mabuhay International Rally. Finally, after finishing second overall at the 1990 Mabuhay International Rally, Eduque was proclaimed Philippine National Rally Champion Driver of the Year.
He followed this up with 2nd Overall in National Championship in 1991, 1992, and 1993, plus Philippine National Rallycross Overall Series Winner in 1997.
Now 74, Eduque doesn't recall exactly when he retired from competition racing, but he thinks it may have been sometime in the late 1990s, when he joined the board of directors of AAP, and became chairman of the AAP Motor Sport Committee.
In 2017, Mandy Eduque was inducted into the Golden Wheel Hall of Fame by Golden Wheel Foundation chairman Johnny Tan, a businessman and former karting racer.
Vip Isada won the Philippine National Car Rally Championship 10 times in the 1980s. His son Ivan was National Rally Cross Champion in 2002 and won AAP'S National Driver of the Year award that year. In 2003, the last time a National Car Rally series was held, Ivan Isada gathered the same awards again.
In 1983, the young Vip Isada and his bride of four months Norma created a sensation when they celebrated Valentine's Day by competing as a team in the 100 Hills Rally of Cavite on board an Isuzu Gemini. The newlywed couple won, beating team favorites Mandy Eduque and navigator Rody Cruz on board a Ford Escort RS2000, and the Robert Aventajado /Boy Saycon tandem in a Toyota Corolla.
After retiring from car racing, Vip Isada was hired by Honda Cars Philippines to conduct the Honda Media Challenge, a rally cross training program for the working press. Isada designed the rally cross race track where the media, guided by Isada's veteran rally teammates as navigators, competed in time trials using a fleet of Honda City cars.
When AAP organized the Motor Sport Development Program in 2017 to train aspiring young race car drivers at the grass roots level, Vip Isada was again chosen as head coach. This time, his coaching team included his son Ivan and experienced motor sport competitors like 4-time Slalom Driver of the Year Milo Rivera and rally car driver Robbie Hermoso.
This year, Ivan Isada was appointed AAP Motor Sport Manager in charge of the MSDP and other motor sport-related activities.