Manila Bulletin

Sports is serious business

- By JOSÉ ABETO ZAIDE

AFTER he won for the underdog Letran Knights the 2015 NCAA basketball trophy, Aldin Ayo was dangled an offer he can’t refuse – a 3-year contract at 3M per annum to coach the De La Salle Green Archers.

That’s a number that even pro league PBA coaches used only to drool over.

And that’s only the icing on the cake: San Miguel chief Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., a die-hard Green Archer, assured Ayo that SMC will help his family’s flounderin­g poultry-piggery business.

Further social security: Ayo was also promised a future PBA coaching job if he shines as La Salle’s coach. (Insiders said Ayo signed as an assistant coach in the SMC pool of junior mentors.)

It’s only business. Ayos ang butobuto!

If those are the numbers for a winning coach, can you imagine what is at stake between FEU coach Nash Racela and UST coach Bong dela Cruz when Tamaraws clash with Growling Tigers for the UAAP championsh­ip at 3:30 p.m. today at the MOA Arena?

TRIVIA. It isn’t true that Bo Perasol was leaving Loyola Heights because the Jesuits were only paying for labor of love.

La Salle’s pirating Letran’s Ayo to coach the Green Archers may have created a rift between the two schools. Fr. Clarence Marquez, OP Letran’s rector and president, was reportedly not amused and reportedly wrote La Salle Rector Bro. Raymundo Suplido something about the 5th Commandmen­t.

NCAA Rookie-MVP Allwell Oraeme denies receiving offers from UAAP schools – News item. Now we will never know which are those two high-profile UAAP schools Mapua Cardinals coach Atoy Co said were trying to pirate his prized Nigerian rookie. Si coach Atoy Co ang naghain,

sila ang gustong kumain!

Church doors must stay open despite terror fears – Pope Francis. The head of the Catholic faithful told pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square that church doors around the world must remain open, despite increased security fears in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, “Please, no armored doors in the church, everything open. There are places in the world where doors should not be locked with a key…We must not surrender to the idea that we must apply this way of thinking to every aspect of our lives…”

Echoing the Pope’s message, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said the “Year of Mercy” has become more urgent amid the recent terror attacks. Tagle said, “We have to ask what happens in the human heart when it loses mercy. It can be blind to power and it can do things that are terrible.”

In a secular way, the Parisienne­s would also not bow to the terror of ISIS and give up their cafes, concerts, and bon vivant way of life.

Because senator Ferdinand “Bong bong” Marcos Jr.’s refuses to apologize for the atrocities during the martial law regime, PNoy recommends a newly launched book to jog his memory, “The Aquino Legacy: An Enduring Narrative” - a collection of historical accounts and commentari­es about the nation’s struggle to fight the martial law regime and restore democracy in the country.

The Senator’s camp ripostes that in BongBong’s book the apology should come from the President who designated suspended PNP chief Alan Purisima to oversee the Charge of the Light Brigade at Masapapno.

The Sandiganba­yan sentenced former Pasay City Mayor “Peewee” up to 10 years in prison for irregulari­ties in the awarding of a P500millio­n contract to a constructi­on company owned by controvers­ial businessma­n in 2003. That’s not chicken feed. FEEDBACK: joseabetoz­aide@gmail.com

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines