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Sunday, July 19, 2020

Fighting Maroons look back at their historic UAAP 81 run


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Reveal interesting behind-the-scenes secrets and surprises

If there’s one good thing that has come out of this pandemic, it’s that friendship and family bonds have gotten stronger, despite or because of the physical absence.

A tightly-knit family and the best of friends because of their shared experience, the UP Fighting Maroons of University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81, held a long overdue reunion Friday, July 17 and hopped on a Zoom call for a virtual party.





Dubbed Zoomustahan with UAAP Season 81 UPMBT, the get-together was attended by Season 81 captain Paul Desiderio, that season’s MVP Bright Akhuetie, Jun Manzo, Juan Gomez de Liaño, Javi Gomez de Liaño, Diego Dario, Jarrell Lim, Gelo Vito, Janjan Jaboneta, Will Gozum, Pio Longa, Jaydee Tungcab, JJ Española and head coach Bo Perasol. Season 80’s UP courtside reporter Agatha Uvero and Nowhere To Go But UP: How a Basketball Team Inspired a Nation author Naveen Ganglani hosted the e-vent that was aired on Facebook Live so UP fans and the public could join the reunion.



The giddy group recalled their favorite memories of the UP Men’s Basketball Team’s incredible run in 2018, exchanged updates on what they have been doing during the quarantine, revealed behind-the-scenes thoughts and conversations of Season 81 and uncorked a few secrets that still surprised many.

Team captain Paul Desiderio jokingly recounted how much of a challenge it was to lead his team that year, but how his fellow seniors – Diego Dario, Jarrell Lim and Gelo Vito – shared the load and made the job easier.

The boys recalled special moments – like that classic inbound pass from Juan GDL that Bright caught at the precise moment and laid up for the winning points while Paul Desiderio fought tooth and nail to get Papi Sarr out of his defensive position. That shot opened the gates for the Maroons’ first real ticket to the Finals as it erased the Adamson Falcons’ twice-to-beat advantage and put them at par with Adamson in a knock-out game for a Finals seat.

“That was a classic. There was no way to rehearse that the way it happened, even if it was a play that was designed by Coach Ronnie (Magsanoc) at practice. Nobody could have prepared for the way it was executed,” he said. “That’s why we still talk about it today.

But prior to that blistering Final Four run that began when the Maroons played a masterful game against La Salle that catapulted them into the Final Four for the first time in 21 years, the Maroons were floundering and being inconsistent. From heady conquests of some teams, they would succumb to teams they could easily beat. Most glaring was a Second Round game against UE where they were whipped by the Wartriors in the first half.

Jarrell Lim recalled the moment. “There was a game against UE where Coach Bo got really mad. We knew we could win that game easily, but we were playing badly. In the dugout, Coach Bo said something that really scared us. He said, “If we lose this game, I’m going to resign.” That was a wake-up call for us. That was the turning point. That was when we really talked to each other as teammates and we began to take things more seriously.” The Maroons saved the day with a decisive win over the Red Warriors in the second half. From that point onwards, they never looked back.

“Nag-usap kaming mga seniors, I think losing-record kami non. We said ‘We can’t let this happen kasi ito na ‘yong last year namin.’ Naisip namin to talk to the coaches, and we all got our acts together,” Diego Dario added.

Still there was talk that UP got to the finals because they were simply lucky. Coach Bo dismissed that impression without hesitation.

“Hindi ka naman mananalo nang magic lang, na walang galing. Even if you keep on fighting, , if you do not have the set of skills to match up with one other, ang hirap, hindi makakaya yon,” Perasol said. “There were a lot of times in UP history na puro laban lang. Hindi mo matatawaran ang laban ng mga taga-UP. But this bunch of guys, hindi sila puro lumaban lang. You have to consider the skill level of these guys.”

There was a lot of light-hearted ribbing and teasing among the reuniting Maroons, one of which was pointing out Bright Akhuetie’s incredible appetite for Crispy Pata, determining who had the biggest appetite at dinners and parties (Javi GDL, Will Gozum, and Pio Longa) and who was the most “makulit”. The band of brothers – who were obviously still very comfortable with each other -- was not beyond asking Will Gozum (who has since joined the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde) to go back to UP “habang may pandemic pa”. Later in the reunion, Season 82 teammate and Mythical Team member Kobe Paras and new recruit Malick Diouf also joined in the fun, conversing with their brothers rowdily and familiarly.

The UP Men’s Basketball Team (UPMBT) made history in UAAP Season 81 by breaking their 21-year Final Four drought and making it to the Finals for the first time after 32 years.

This is the second batch of Fighting Maroons to do a virtual get together during the quarantine period. Back in April, members of the 2014 UPMBT, the team which rejoiced at ending a 27-game losing streak that prompted a controversial bonfire celebration, also had a Zoom call hosted by Fighting Maroon stalwart and game announcer Mikee Reyes.

UP basketball fans had a chance to win prizes by answering trivia questions and joining a raffle that was part of the ZOOMustahan.

Reminiscing the Yesteryears Working for the United Nations


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The photo above is 13 years ago with colleagues based in Cotabato city, when I was still working as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) staff for the World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations (UN).

Coming from an ICT reliever work at the International Labour Organization (ILO), also a UN organization, whenever their female ICT was on maternity leave.

The stint at ILO probably got me a favorable advantage to be employed full-time at WFP. ILO was responsible in letting me know about the vacancy and encouraged me to apply. I believe my performance at ILO was more than satisfying.

Working for WFP got me visiting Mindanao (our Cotabato, Iligan and Davao offices) very often since it was the site of our main operations due to the conflicts happening in Mindanao. Frequented Legazpi city too because we also had an office there, though only for a short time, to address a calamity concern. Since we were setting up all offices from scratch, I had every opportunity to learn how our system works from scratch.




WFP exposed me to working with diverse people from different nationalities. Our Country Director was American, our Logistics was from Korea, our Finance was from Myanmar, etc., and several.ICTs from different countries also made their way to the Philippines to help setup our ICT infrastructure.

It was also my first opportunity to go out of the country and receive training in Bangkok, Thailand where our regional headquarters is located.






The organization was not perfect but it was among the ones that gave me the best learning experience because I was involved in most aspects necessary to fulfill my duty. From liasing with government agencies to get permits for our radios, tower antennas, satellite phones and dish, to the procurement of our workstations, servers, and other ICT equipment sourced from both abroad and locally, to preparing yearly budget plans for ICT upgrades and maintenance.

The Nas Daily and Wil Dasovich Podcast Reaction



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Nuseir Yassin aka "Nas" is an Israeli-Arab video blogger who created 1,000 daily 1-minute videos on Facebook, when most were doing it on YouTube. He formerly set office in the Philippines with his team and engaged extensively with Pinoys knowing we are one of the most active on social media, especially on FB. He currently operates the Nas Daily Corporation, a video production company that uploads weekly videos. Now he creates longer videos, and even a podcast.

Medyo hindi ginusto ni Nas ang mga write-ups about his podcast with Wil. He posted a message on his page discouraging us to use their discussion for our vested interests....

"Dear Philippines,

It’s me again! I want to correct something.

Recently, I announced an episode of my new podcast "Nas Talks" with Wil Dasovich. It was a very fun episode.

But sadly, it’s being taken out of context in some online articles, and it pains me to see that.

Wil and I are good friends. The podcast was very friendly. But when you write it down in text or an article, it looks like it was all serious and grumpy. It wasn’t.

I don’t want anyone to use this podcast or my conversation with Wil to further anyone’s political ambitions or use it against Wil. We are both trying to figure out what to do with social media. It’s a whole new world for both of us. And we’re doing our BEST to make it a NET POSITIVE to the world.

Everyone has a different way of achieving their goals. And we have to respect that.

If you want to form an opinion, I would advise you to do it not based on quotes, but based on research. Luckily, Wil and I spoke for 1 hour - so after listening to the whole thing, you should make an informed opinion.

Thank you so much for your continued support! I hope this clears things up :)

Full Episode here:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3QxddLkMugtNSMo6voreUw?si=sak97GUTQQGZRkV8zBCCiA"


Hhhmm, sounds like the makings of a controversy to get more people curious...hehehe. And are we falling for it again....hahaha!

Na meet ko na si Wil Dasovich with his sister sa isang event, but never asked for any photo ops with them. Nakaks intimidate kasi dahil baka Englishin ako ay mali-mali grammar na maisagot ko...hahaha. The two kasi are the typical Fil-Ams who know they look and sound different, and use those facts to their advantage.

Pero kay Nas, pinuntahan ko mismo yung launch ng app niya sa MOA...daming pumunta...nakasama pa kami sa 1 minute vlog niya.

Kay Nas kasi ay edited talaga mga videos niya at daming effort - aerial drone shots, text graphics inclusions, putting other people in the limelight too, concised and informative info given within the 1 minute video, and that iconic shout-out of "that's 1 minute! see you tomorrow! (sounds familiar?).

Maybe because he has a team working for him. Now he does longer videos but never a dull moment because he kept the formula except for the length of his videos.

They most probably know SEO and other strategies to boost their online presence. But the Philippines really is one of the most active on social media thus the reason why they have a lot of content targeting Pinoys....and of course, we love when foreigners elevate us and the Philippines, thus a lot of other vloggers also make sure they do the same. We are equally curious of what foreigners think about us, and would always give us that pleasant feeling inside, and a smile, everytime we are appreciated.

Nas' videos are like documentaries kasi. They are focused more on a single topic, could be a person or place, and other interesting matters, rather than just himself. That is one of the key ingredients of his videos that elevates them from the rest na mas maraming "pabebe" kaysa significant info.

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