Gary Payton to Celebrate Opening Fourth NBA Store in PH on Nov. 24 at Ayala Center Cebu

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that the fourth NBA Store in the Philippines will open Nov. 24 at the Ayala Center in Cebu City.

NBA Legend and Hall of Famer Gary Payton will be on hand to meet and interact with fans at the store opening, which will celebrate the league’s first NBA Store in the Visayas region. To commemorate the occasion, the first 300 customers that purchase an item will receive an NBA gift.

Located on the fourth level of the Ayala Center in 452 square meters of retail space and managed by International Athletic Trading Company, Inc. (IATC), the new NBA Store will offer a wide selection of authentic NBA products from all 30 teams, including official jerseys, footwear, performance gear, lifestyle apparel, and non-apparel merchandise including basketballs, toys, collectibles, and more. The store will also offer personalized jerseys and will feature interactive elements including NBA 2K video game players where fans test their gaming skills and compete against each other, a Pop-a-Shot machine and a dedicated section for NBA memorabilia.

“We had envisioned expanding the NBA footprint across the country and to have now reached the Visayas region is a milestone for us,” said IATC President and CEO Melvin Lloyd Lim. “We could not be more excited to open the first NBA Store in the second most populous metropolitan area in the Philippines after Metro Manila.”

Hontiveros files “Tres Marias” Bills vs. Gender-Based Electronic Violence, Peer-to-Peer Sexual Harassment and Rape

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“We need to speak up”. [L-R: Senator Risa Hontiveros, Anne Nicole de Castro and Dr. Sylvia Claudio. De Castro faced sexual harassment online after protesting the Marcos burial last week.] Photo by Joseph Vidal, Senate PRIB

Coinciding with the observance of the International Week for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Children (VAWC), Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday filed three (3) legislative bills to fight sexual harassment and violence against women. The senator was joined by women rights advocate, Dr. Sylvia Claudio and several student women leaders.

Hontiveros’ three bills are the Anti-Rape Act (Senate Bill No. 1252), the Anti Sexual Harassment Bill (Senate Bill No. 1250), and the Gender-Based Electronic Violence (Senate Bill No. 1251). Dubbed as the ‘Tres Marias" bills, the said measures seek to strengthen the existing Anti-Rape Law, and criminalize gender-based electronic violence and peer-to-peer sexual harassment.

Hontiveros expressed alarm over the growing number of sexual harassment cases against women both offline and online. She cited the examples of Vice President Leni Robredo who was recently the subject of a nasty pregnancy rumor and students like Anne Nicole De Castro, who were sexually harassed online after participating in a protest action against the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“There is an urgent need to institute protective measures and strategic policies to combat the prevalence of the rape culture in our society which leads to physical sexual assault and other forms of violence against our women and children,” Hontiveros explained.

Reece McLaren inspired by Eduard Folayang’s title victory, looks to upset Fernandes

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Filipino-Australian bantamweight sensation Reece McLaren burst onto the scene in ONE Championship after joining the promotion in 2015. He has since come away with two highly-impressive victories over top caliber opponents inside the ONE Championship cage which has earned him a shot at ONE Bantamweight World Champion Bibiano “The Flash” Fernandes.

McLaren (9-3) is set to challenge reigning champion Fernandes (19-3) in the co-main event of ONE: AGE OF DOMINATION which takes place Friday, 2 December at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines. The 25-year-old McLaren says he draws inspiration from another Filipino warrior who recently became an MMA world champion.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Baguio City’s Eduard “Landslide” Folayang shocked the world with a scintillating technical knockout victory over Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki to capture the ONE Lightweight World Championship. McLaren says the win has motivated him in training for his upcoming title shot against Fernandes.

“I saw the Eduard [Folayang] fight and I drew a lot of inspiration from it. Another fellow Filipino winning a world title shows that it can be done,” said McLaren.

“Watching the fight was super exciting. I was on the edge of my seat. It was such a massive opportunity for him and to see him walk away with the victory was just so inspirational.”