Swimjunkie Challenge Series Grows Philippine Open Water Swimming

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Swimjunkie Challenge is the only open-water swimming series that offers long distance destination swims in the Philippines.  Racers travel to swim anywhere from 2.5Km to 10Km in exotic, but challenging swim locations. For the  first race of the season, 280 swimmers made their way to Lobo, Batangas on May 6, to swim 2.5km and 5km along the Verde Island Passage. On June 10, a new set of swimmers from the U.S., Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines are registered and training to complete either 4Km or 8Km at Lio Beach, at the Lio Tourism Estate in El Nido.

“I cannot tell you how excited my husband Justin and I are to be given the opportunity to swim in paradise. This has been on our bucket list for a long time now!”, says 15-time Ironman race winner, Belinda Granger, of Australia. Belinda is a well loved pro-triathlete in the Asia Pacific circuit and the Swimjunkie Challenge: El Nido will be her first 8Km open water swim.

Swimjunkie Challenge El Nido is on its second year and will be held at Lio Beach on June 10, 2018. The race is co-presented by Lio Tourism Estate, supported by the LGU and its Mayor, Nieves Rosento, and sponsored by Seafood Island and Wilkins pure water.

The Swimjunkie Challenges were created by Betsy Medalla, a former Philippine national swim team member and the first Asian to make the iconic cold water swim crossing from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand in Cape Town, South Africa.

“If we can get people active, swimming and enjoying the outdoors, and at the same time supporting the incredible marine environments we have here in the Philippines, then we’re all winning.”, says Betsy Medalla.

There is one more leg to the series, Swimjunkie Challenge Caramoan 10K on August 19, 2018. Early registration is ongoing until May 15 at http:// regonline.activeglobal.com/swimjunkiechallengecaramoan10k2018.

For more information, please contact Swimjunkie at swimjunkieph@icloud.com, Instagram: @swimjchallenge and Twitter: @swimjchallenge.

Defeating Adriano Moraes will be Ultimate Career Highlight for ‘King of Rematch’ Geje Eustaquio

Wazzup Pilipinas!

If based on the old idiom “Second time’s the charm,” it would be​ the perfect ​embodiment to depict Filipino superstar Geje Eustaquio’s professional mixed martial arts career as Lady Luck seems to be on his side in every rematch that he has had.

Out of 16 bouts in his seven-year prizefighting stint, Eustaquio has shared the stage with the same foe on two occasions, walking out in both instances with his arm raised in triumph.

After dropping a split decision to Anatpong Bunrad in April 2015, Eustaquio settled the score with his arch-nemesis two years later by edging out the Thai hard-hitter with his own split decision victory.

Meanwhile, Eustaquio clinched the ONE Interim Flyweight World Championship, toppling Kazakh rival Kairat Akhmetov by way of five-round unanimous decision in a second encounter this past January.

“Winning the world title is a dream come true for me. Ever since I started my professional career, the goal was to be a world champion. Now, that goal is a reality,” Eustaquio stated.

Believing that it could be sweeter the second time around, the 29-year-old Baguio City native seeks to replicate the same magic as he is slated to lock horns once again with Brazilian flyweight kingpin Adriano Moraes.

Both men are scheduled to face each other in a world title unification clash at ONE: PINNACLE OF POWER, which takes place at the Studio City Event Center in Macau, China on June 23.

“There were lots of trials and challenges. My path was not the easiest, but I always knew what I had to do to achieve it. Like I always say, it’s either you win or you learn. I learned from my past failures. And here I am today. That’s the secret to my success,” Eustaquio shared.

“On June 23, I have a tough task in front of me. However, it is still an opportunity for me, an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. On that date, it’s my opportunity to become the undisputed champion of this division. And I am coming for it,” he added.

Eustaquio and Moraes stood opposite each other for the first time in September 2014 when the two collided for the inaugural ONE Flyweight World Championship.

Moraes derailed Eustaquio’s championship aspirations as he found a way to counteract his opponent’s striking prowess in the second round and then forced the 5-foot-5 Team Lakay representative to wave the white flag with a guillotine choke.

Eustaquio admitted that it was a tough defeat to digest, but he pointed out that he took a lot away from it by viewing it as a learning curve.

“That loss has taught me a lot. Ever since then, I have worked extensively in improving in all areas,” he said. “I have worked extremely hard to get to this point because deep inside, I knew we would meet again. Now I can finally give him a better fight.”

Since his initial meeting with Moraes almost four years ago, Eustaquio stressed that he has grown tremendously as he has matured and expanded his skillset.

“I have evolved as a martial artist since we first met inside the cage in 2014. I know that it will be different in the rematch against Adriano Moraes. The second bout against Kairat Akhmetov is a testament that I am no longer a one-dimensional fighter. I trusted my team, and in the bout against Akhmetov, one of the things we worked on was how to bring the bout back to the feet,” he explained.

In his upcoming rematch, Eustaquio expects that the Brazilian submission specialist may look to focus on using his other skills.

“This time around, I have a feeling we will be standing more. I think he will want to stand and trade with me to test his striking,” he reasoned. “If the going gets rough, then he can focus on taking it to the mat. The same principle applies to me. I want to test my Jiu-Jitsu skills too, and what better opponent than Adriano Moraes to do so against?”

According to Eustaquio, defeating Moraes to become the undisputed ONE Flyweight World Champion would be the proudest moment of his career.

“This rematch is very big. It is the biggest of my career, no doubt. I am treating this bout as the most significant of my time as a professional mixed martial artist, but because of my hard work and preparations, all that is left is to give the performance of a lifetime,” he ended.

For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit www.onefc.com, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.

DOTr, CAAP Inaugurate Rehabilitated Virac Airport

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) inaugurated today the newly-rehabilitated passenger terminal building (PTB) of the Virac Airport.

Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade, DOTr Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Manuel Antonio Tamayo, CAAP Director General Jim Sydiongco, Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, Philippine Airforce Commanding General Lt. Gen. Galileo Gerard Kintanar, Catanduanes Gov. Joseph Cua, and Virac Mayor Samuel Laynes, led the inauguration.

The construction for the terminal rehabilitation project began in January 2016, and involved turning the old design of the passenger terminal building into a modernized structure.

The PhP39 million project, whose initial completion date was on July 20, 2016, was suspended on May 23, 2016 after additional retrofitting works were considered necessary to provide stability for the old building originally built in 1963. It was suspended once again in December 2016 due to damages brought by Typhoon “Nina,” resulting in added PhP4.5 million in cost to repair the passenger terminal building.

The rehabilitation project was finally completed on May 24, 2018. 

“When President Duterte appointed us in his Cabinet, he gave us one important directive— ensure that we make the Filipino comfortable. That is why we continue to build, build, and build. We build to enhance mobility and connectivity, not just to improve movement of transportation of people and goods, nor just to improve travel. We do this to enhance the Filipino’s way of life,” Sec. Tugade said.

With the inauguration of the rehabilitated passenger terminal building, Virac Airport will increase its capacity from 100 passengers to 300 passengers. The ground floor and second floor pre-departure areas have been expanded, and the arrival area in the ground floor has also been rehabilitated.

Gigmoto Mayor Ding Guerrero, Baras Mayor Chito Chi, Bagamanoc Mayor Remigio Villaluna, Caramoran Mayor Agnes Popa, and San Andres Mayor Peter Cua, DOTr Asec for Maritime Andoy Perez, and PPA General Manager Jay Santiago were also present at the inauguration

Virac Airport is the only airport serving the island province of Catanduanes. It started its operations in 1946 as a feeder airport with its first commercial flight landing in 1947 and its first private aircraft flight landing in 1947. On October 27, 2013, Cebu Pacific launched the first Airbus flight to Virac and its Manila-Virac-Manila route every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. In December 2017, Philippine Airlines launched its Clark-Virac-Clark route every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.