P100K cash for Christmas Contest

The time has come for D- Day or Distribution Day. We’re giving away P100,000 in cash during the awarding of prizes to our 20 Christmas Contest winners at 11 a.m. today in The Philippine

Star office in Port Area, Manila. Aside from the cash, we’ll raffle off P5,000 worth of SM gift certificates, courtesy of GAB chairman Abraham Mitra, to the claimants. If a winner or a representative isn’t able to personally claim his or her prize, he or she forfeits the chance of participating in the raffle. A ton of other prizes will be distributed to the lucky winners.

Here are the donors of our P100,000 pot – P50,000 from PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, P15,000 from The Herma Group CEO and racehorse owner/ sportsman Hermie Esguerra, P15,000 from GlobalPort team owner/ Rep. Mikee Romero through PBA governor Erick Arejola, P10,000 from the Arellano Law Foundation, P5,000 from LVPI acting president Peter Cayco and P5,000 from ALA Boxing CEO Tony Aldeguer.

First prize winner Lexen Quiachon, 33, will receive P50,000 in cash. The call center agent of Block 11, Lot 7 Rodriguez Village, Barangay Lawa, Calamba sent his entry with the correct answers to our three questions and this essay on sports as a source of national pride and vehicle for youth development: “From the four world titles of Paeng, spanning three decades to the eight world division titles of Manny, Filipinos have turned to sports for hope and the belief that a Filipino can. It is the very same belief that I now impart to my fiveyear-old son through swimming. No matter how deep the pool is or long the lap is, there is nothing he cannot achieve in life as long as he puts his mind and spirit into it, just like Paeng and Manny.”

**** Lexen will claim his prize this morning with his wife Maria Fe and their five-year-old son Lucas, an only child. He’s a BS Development Communications graduate from UP Los Baños and employed at Synchrony Financial in Alabang. It’s his first time to join a contest run by the Star’s sports section.

“Since I was a boy, our family has always subscribed to The Philippine Star,” said Lexen. “I’m a basketball fan so I always read the sports section of The Star. When I read about the Christmas Contest, for some reason, I was inspired to send an entry by email. I thought about my son Lucas and how I’m encouraging him to do the best he can in swimming. So I wrote the essay with my son in mind.”

As for the balance of P50,000, we decided to distribute it equally to the 19 other winners who will receive P2,500 each. That will leave a surplus of P2,500 to be given as a bonus to our contest organizers Babes Angat and her son Ikoy. The P5,000 SM gift certificates will be raffled in P1,000 denominations among the winners present at the awarding today.

**** From the list of prizes we detailed in this column last Tuesday, we’ve added even more. Alaska gave 10 loot bags from PBA treasurer/ Aces team manager Dicky Bachmann and sports development/ PR ma na gerC.K.Ka nap i-D an iol co. SBP donated 10 Gilas T-shirts and five basketballs from executive director Sonny Barrios. The Phoenix Fuel Masters contributed five bags containing a flashlight, rechargeable emergency lantern and desk calendar and P5,000 fuel gift certificates from PBA governor Atty. Raymond Zorilla. The Philippine Star donated 20 Tech Pen-Stylus and USB gadgets. Philippine Tennis Academy’s Rommie Chan sent 10 shirts and Nike country marketing manager Patrick Reyes added Nike gear to give away, too.

Donors who were previously cited were the PSC, MVP Group, San Miguel Corp., PBA, Mahindra Floodbuster, Ever Bilena, ALA Boxing, Smart Sports/ Maynilad, Sonak Corp., The Herma Group, GlobalPort, Emerald Headway, National Paralympic Committee/ Philspada, Philippine Tennis Academy, Benjie Anicete, Larc & Asset, Barangay Ginebra, San Miguel Beer, Rain Or Shine, LGR Sports, Gatorade, GAB, Arellano Law Foundation and LVPI.

Our 20 winners are Lexen Quiachon, 33, of Calamba; Juan Paolo Lorenzo Montecer, 13, of Mandaluyong; Martin Dale Bolima, 32, of Malabon; Jan Lean Cortez, 19, of Sucat; Raphael Martin Hernandez, 36, of Pasig; Gary Villamero, 28, of Caloocan; Romano Obmerga, 36, of Sto. Tomas, Batangas; Marielle Orbon, 35, of Quezon City; Ireneo Padrigon, 68, of Daet, Camarines Norte; Reagan Libed, 36, of Bacoor; Israel Roxas, 43, of Rodriguez, Rizal; Yolanda Carpio, 41, of Canlubang; Paul Benjamin Ocubillo, 38, of San Fernando, Cebu; Ruel Correos, 44, of Sun Valley, Parañaque; Rodalee Ofiaza, 31, of Marikina; John Paul Tanyag, 24, of Muntinlupa; Reginaldo Pascual, 29, of Kamuning; Jan Marc Telan, 21, of Pasig; Jeneah Kayne Cabales, 15, of Tondo and Honeymay Shayne Dimple Escobar, 25, of Las Piñas.

Thank you to our generous donors from the bottom of our heart and congratulations to all the winners.