•Perpetualpride MaramBeautyisn’t skindeep page 6

•NCAACHANGINGFOR THEBETTER

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•Fear the roar of woundedRed Lions page 4

SAN BEDA spitfireAnjo Caram on theattack.

FR. LANA of host Letran

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VOL. 1 NO. 1 • JUNE 14-21, 2012

2 JUNE 14-21, 2012

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LETRAN PROMISES EXCITING NCAA

CHANGE, name of the GameBy Penelope Iole Endozo

T HE rules maychange but thegoal to be the best

remains for the NationalCollegiate Athletic Associ-ation (NCAA).

“Change” is the buzzword forthe oldest collegiate sportsleague in the country, as itopens up to a new media part-ner, it hopes to witness an all-Filipino bench of players soon,and take charge of a bettergame plan for Season 88.

This year’s NCAA host, Cole-gio de San Juan de Letran, hasinked a three-year partnershipwith TV5’s AKTV to air itsgames on Mondays, Thursdaysand Saturdays--the same time-slot with the University AthleticAssociation of the Philippines(UAAP) they never had in an-other channel.

With prime time coverage,NCAA will no longer play sec-ond fiddle to UAAP for expo-sure, said Letran sports modera-tor and Management Commit-tee chairman Fr. Vic Calvo, O.P.

“Why should we be No. 2 inone channel when we can beNo. 1 in our own channel?”asked Calvo.

Preparations are also in fullswing for the opening rites seton June 23, 4 p.m. at theSmart-Araneta Coliseum aftertalks with SM Arena as venuewas withdrawn.

“The technical system atSmart-Araneta Coliseum is moreconvenient compared to bring-ing in new cables in SM Arena,”said Fr. Tamerlane Lana, OP, rec-tor and president of Letran. Fr.Lana also heads the policyboard.

“The technical coverage hasbeen tested,” said Lana ofSmart-Araneta Coliseum, whichalso plays host to PhilippineBasketball Association (PBA)and aired on TV5’s AKTV.

For the Colegio de San Juande Letran, being the oldestschool within the league al-

lowed them to see the rise andfall of heroes, martyrs --andathletes-- in history.

Fr. Lana extends that mes-sage on finding out what sportsthe likes of Jose P. Laurel,Manuel L. Quezon and otherhistorical figures must haveplayed when they studied intheir school.

He also hopes that their al-ma mater’s recent famous alum-ni--Samboy Lim, Freddie Webb,Kerby Raymundo, Willie Miller,Rey Guevarra, and someOlympians--will grace the open-ing.

This year’s theme Cele-bramos 88! Conquistar por tuhonor nuevas glories!” (Cele-brate 88! Conquering New Glo-ries) will welcome the seasonwith a three-part program --highlighting Deus (God), Patria(Country) and Sports Educa-tion.

“I am relating our themewith the personality of my pres-ident,” said Letran AcademicDean Wen Reyes. “We want toremember the past. Here, thehistory of the Philippines is tiedto the history of Letran.”

Letran, a Dominican-led ins-titution, will grant NCAA a ren-

dition of Salve Regina, a latinprayer, by the Dominican broth-ers in full black-and-whitehabits.

For what the athletes cannotask more than prayers, theyhave to make up through talentand cheers. Lana also promisesthe league’s cheerdancing com-petition to be exciting to high-light its closing ceremonies.

“If the opening rites arebongga, the closing ceremoniesshould also be bongga,” he said.

Lana is not a stranger to be-

ing at the helm of student-cen-tered activities. As former rectorof the University of Sto. Tomas,a UAAP-member, he sees the dif-ference now that he sits as pre-sident of host school Letran.

“There is definitely a greatdifference. When UST was hostin UAAP, there was little in-volvement of the president of auniversity. In NCAA, I really feelthat I’m the host,” he explains.

Lana said the “structure” ofdecision-making in NCAA isdone in two levels, the Manage-ment Committee (ManCom)and among presidents.

The ManCom has really theauthority, [but] there is anotherlevel where appeals could beforwarded,” the Letran rectorsaid.

“This involvement is impor-tant because it’s difficult to ef-fect a change when the presi-dents are not involved. It’s easi-er here because we can immedi-ately address concerns for thegood for NCAA,” he added.

Lana emphasizes the roles ofManCom and college officialsbecause one of the most contro-versial policies has been ap-proved under his watch.

The board has decided to al-

low Filipino and Fil-foreignerplayers only and will stop im-port recruitment by startingSeason 90. Foreign players al-ready in the pipeline can stillfor a transition period of 2years until they graduate.

“We really wanted to developour own and play for the na-tional team,” said Lana.

“A slot that is given to a for-eign player is a slot denied toanother Filipino cager,” Calvosaid. He said that foreign play-ers usually play on contract andcould not contribute eventuallyto the roster of the nationalteam.

Lana said that participationis key for a successful NCAA.Many schools such as PhilippineChristian University, Central Es-colar University, Central Col-leges of the Philippines andTrinity University have also sig-nified their intent to join theleague.

“The ideal (number) is 8 alsodue to the limitations of theseason,” he said of the 10-school league. But so far, theLyceum Pirates is counted as aguest team while the ArellanoChiefs and the Emilio AguinaldoCollege Generals are on-proba-tion teams which can qualify asregular members if they meetrequirements.

Rounding up this season’steams are Arellano UniversityChiefs, Letran Knights, De LaSalle-College of St. BenildeBlazers, Emilio Aguinaldo Col-lege Generals, Jose Rizal Uni-versity Heavy Bombers, Lyceumof the Philippines Pirates, Ma-púa Institute of Technology Car-dinals, San Beda College Red Li-ons, San Sebastian CollegeGolden Stags and University ofPerpetual Help Altas

“If in the future they don’tmake it, that’s the time we canentertain new teams again.There are 10 teams already andit’s already hard at this point,”said Lana of other teams, he ex-plained. “But rest assured thatwe promise for this Season 88to be exciting.”

This year’s themeCelebramos 88!Conquistar por tu

honor nuevas glories!”(Celebrate 88!

Conquering NewGlories) will welcome

the seasonwith a three-part

program-highlightingDeus (God), Patria

(Country) and SportsEducation.

NCAA chief Fr.Lana: Exciting timesahead for NCAA.

ARNOLD ALMACEN

3JUNE 14-21, 2012

Knights eyeredemption

Redemption.The Colegio de San Juan de

Letran Knights had enough ofsurrendering their throne in theNational Collegiate Athletic As-sociation and hopes to end theirtitle drought this Season 86.

And this time, they are toshow no mercy.

“Naging motivation naminang pagka-eliminate last year,”said Knights skipper Kevin Alas.“At talagang mas pinaghusayannamin ngayon sa mga trainingnamin dahil ang goal ng teamay makapasok ng finals.”

True enough, the boys of Le-tran Coach Louie Alas are des-perate to reach the pinnacle,

each marked with intensity andpassion, living what is writtenat the back of their jerseys,“Never give up, never give in.”

Aggressive and fierceThe Knights have always

kept a trademark of putting upa strong and sturdy defense,enough to prevent their oppo-nents from penetrating under-neathe the rim. But Coach Alasbelieves that the team needs totake it to the next level and es-tablish consistency in terms ofoffense.

“Sa 12 na taon akong nasaLetran, alam ko na defensiveteam talaga ito,” said a deter-mined Coach Alas. “Kaya na-man ngayon, ang opensa talagaang pinagtutuunan namin ngpansin.”

On his [Coach Alas] 10thNCAA season with the Knights,he expects his team not only to

defend flawlessly but alsopunch in aggressive attacks aswell.

The former Adamson Univer-sity Falcons player also stressedout that there wasn’t any majorchanges in the way they pre-pared for this coming season,

“Wala masyadong pagbabagoang nangyari kasi last year, ma-ganda naman ang ikinalabasan,mas dapat lang naminpaghusayan ngayon.”

ReadyThe veteran coach bragged

about his team’s physiqueand how physicallyready his team isbut then again,there is stillmuch to im-prove with solittle time left.

“Konti na lang,mararating na naminyung gusto namin mangyariphysically,” the 49-year oldCoach Alas quipped. “Pero, interms of mental and spiritualaspects, wala pa at yun anggusto ko i-work out bagomagsimula ang tournament.”

Although the Knights lostthree key players, VJ Espiritu,Franz Dysam and Andrei Men-doza, Coach Alas is confidentthat incoming rookies McjourLuib, Japeth Almario and Ed-ward Oluto would be able to fillin those holes and help lift theteam to victory.

The team also added morewood to the fire of their benchplayers to act as an effective sup-port system for the starting line-up. Coach Alas stressed that hewanted the bench to build moreconfidence during practices to ex-ecute the plays well.

He [Coach Alas] also clari-fied the rumors about last sea-son’s most defensive player Ray-mond Almazan’s unavailabilityto play for Letran, “Nagkaroonlang siya [Almazan] ng person-al problem at binigyan ko siyang dalawang buwan paraayusin ’yon. “Akala namin hindina siya maglalaro pero nagpaki-

By Alexandra Jessica Esponga

B ENEATH the mighty walls of Intramuros lies anarmy, hungry to once again savor that sweettaste of victory with only one thing in mind.

ta siya ng motibo, wala namangproblema doon kaya tinanggapnamin ulit siya.”

With a stronger bondedKnights, they are to give theiraudience one heck of a perfor-mance game after game.

Secret ingredientWhen the younger Alas was

asked of how he would describethe Knights, he only mentioneda word, “Fighter.”

“Kilala ko ang bawat isa saamin at alam ko na lahat kamiay palaban. Wala kaming uu-rungan na laban,” he [Kevin]added.

Even though the team hasfaced disappointments andtragedies, they still are deter-mined to go against all oddsand try to redeem the champi-onship that has been handedover to rivals San Beda CollegeRed Lions last year.

And Coach Alas shared what

the Knights’ ultimate ingredientis and the team has faith thatthis important factor can alsotake them to go the distance.

“Puso,” said Coach Alas.“Hindi mo na pwede baguhinang puso ng isang tao. Kaya la-gi kong sinasabi sa kanila na is-apuso nila ang laro at huwaglang kakabisaduhin.”

Also, with the pressure ofhosting the NCAA this year, theboys said that the only thingthat can fight that pressureaway is teamwork. Coach Alasquoted that they can win gamesif they stick together as a teamand work as one goal, one vi-sion, and one purpose.

With little time left beforethe grand opening of a new se-ries, the Letran Knights havetheir fingers crossed, hopingthat they could once again re-peat history and fatten theirchampionship story book.

INSIDEPRESENCELETRAN’SJonathanBelorio (right)on the attack.GRIG MONTEGRANDE

KEY MANTHE young Alas mustsoar to lift the Knights.

AUGUST DE LA CRUZ

4 JUNE 14-21, 2012

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Fear the roar ofwounded Lions

Conceding a tight 50-46decision against the De LaSalle Green Archers last Satur-day in their semifinals match,the Red Lions fell just a gameshort of barging into the fi-nals. Nevertheless, a stint inthe semifinals is still impres-sive considering the majorshakeup that the team experi-enced recently.

Licking the woundsThe team is still reeling

from the loss of their headcoach Frankie Lim after themulti-titled tactician got in-volved in a melee with SanSebastian volleyball coachRoger Gorayeb last Decemberwhich earned him a 2-yearsuspension slapped by theNCAA. Adding the multiplesuspensions meted several oftheir players and the ban ontwo of their foreign recruits

Olaide Adeogun of Nigeriaand Julius Armon of Califor-nia, who recently decided tostay in the US, the Red Lions,for the first time in manyyears are no longer touted ashands-down favorites this88th NCAA season.

GUIDANCEBut the unfortunate events

forced the team towards anew direction that wouldhopefully bring stability to anow rebuilding team as schoolofficials decided to tap theservices of former Red Cuband one of the PBA’s 25 Great-est Players, Ronnie Magsanoc.

“I was asked to help outthe program and it was likegoing full circle for me. Nag-aral ako dun (San Beda) thenmag-seserbisyo ako,” said theex-pro, who was one of themost dependable court gener-

als during his heyday.“Wala na yung core ng

team, sina Gabe Marcelo, Gar-vo Lanete, the Semerad twinsand Mar Villahermosa so thiswill be a rebuilding year,” saidthe 46-year-old Magsanoc, theconcurrent Meralco Bolts as-sistant coach in the PBA, whoagrees that his team will notbe as favored as before.

“It will be a new situationfor the team,” said Magsanoc.

Older LionsSan Beda die-hards can ex-

pect the remaining veterans totake the cudgels and lead thecharge towards defendingtheir crown this year. The tan-dem of 5th-year veterans AnjoCaram and team captain JakePascual will lead the pack ofRed Lions together with MeloLim, Kyle Pascual and Romedela Rosa in their quest for afourth title in five years and17th overall.

The Red Lions may not bedone licking their wounds butthe rest of the league shouldnot count them out this soonbecause champions that havehearts of lions don’t just godown that easily.

By Patrick Leonard Mayo

L OOKING AT HOW the Sand Beda Red Lionsfared in the 2012 Filoil Flying V PreseasonHanes Cup, it can be said that they have

done a fairly good job of keeping their attentionaway from the various off-court challenges andcontroversies that have hounded them in the pastfew months.

VERSATILE:Rome de laRosa is aninside force andreliabledefender.ROME DE LA

ROSA/FACEBOOK

CO-SKIPPERVETERAN Anjo Caramwill show the way forthe newbies.DIANA MORALEDA/FACEBOOK

6 JUNE 14-21, 2012

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PERPETUAL PRIDE MARAM

Beauty isn’t skin deepkalmado,” Maram said.

Her winning Q and A? “Ifyou’re granted one wish, whatwould it be and why?”

“I would wish for love. Be-cause truly, there is a war be-tween Israel and Palestine, and awar between Muslims andCatholics, so where is the lovethere? If there is love there ispeace. And if there is peacethere will be no war.”

Aside from beauty con-tests, she also participated ina fashion show last April.When she was 13, she ap-peared in three issues ofCandy Magazine.

Moreover, this year shejoined ABS-CBN’s StarMagic Workshop and per-formed in Going Bulilitshow.

She loves surfing thenet, exercising and, trueto her being Ms. NCAA,enjoys basketball--for areason. Her eldest sisterwas a team captain intheir school.

Her shapely body isn’t aproduct of any diet. The onlyfood she stays away from is pork,but that is for religious purposes.

“Hindi ako naniniwala sa diet.I only exercise regularly, like jog-ging and aerobics. I’m not doingthis to achieve sexy body but tobecome healthy,” said Maram,who admits that her ideal guysare tall, dark, handsome, kind andare good providers just like her fa-ther.

Her celebrity crushes? DerekRamsay, Zanjoe Marudo, JohnLloyd Cruz, and Enrique Gil.

Meanwhile, Maram hopes tocomplete her reign as Ms. NCAAproudly.

“To all those people who sup-ported me during my pageants,to the Altas family, to my CollegeDepartment, Sir Dennis Abrina,my teachers and classmatesthank you so much. My loyalty isalways for the Altas,” Maramsaid.

By Jonalyn Mae Flores Antonio

F ILIPINO-Arabian Maram Mamdouh A. Banajahispossesses all the physical attributes of a beautyqueen: Flawless skin, perfect teeth, long eyelashes,

fairly tall height and a slender body.But it is her inner qualities that

set her apart from the rest.Perhaps it is because she is a

product of a mixed culture. This17-year-old charmer was born toan Arabian father and a Filipinomother.

She was raised with conserva-tive views in Saudi Arabia, whereshe spent the first nine years ofher childhood. She has been inthe Philippines for the past eightyears, imbibing the same conser-vative values but with the aware-ness of female empowerment.

It is no wonder then that thePerpetual Help student is not onlyturning heads in her school, she’salso making her mark in theNCAA.

She was crowned Miss NCAA2012 last February 29 held atEmilio Aguinaldo College Audito-rium, totally dominating the con-test: She won other minor awardslike Best in Cocktail Attire, Best inCasual Wear, Ms. Ever Bilena, andMs. Joel Mendez Medical Groupawards.

All this despite the 5-foot-6looker being just a high school se-nior.

Born on April 11, 1995, Bana-jahis is the youngest in a brood offour girls.

It seems being a beauty queenruns in her blood. Her older sisterReham Banajah, an Altas Angellike her, made it to the Top 6 inthe school’s search for Ms. Univer-sity in 2010. Her mother, Victoria,used to join beauty pageants dur-ing her high school days at Re-publican College in Quezon City.

“I always push her to joinpageants because I know that shecan shine and excel in it,” saidVictoria. “In our religion, mara-ming bawal but I support her samga ganyang opportunities.”

“She can show a little skin butnot too much,” she added.

Maram also makes sure herbeauty queen dreams do not inter-fere with her academics. She hasachieved several scholastic awardssuch as Best in Conduct, English,Science, Physical Education, Com-puter and T.L.E.

“Mas priority ko talaga ang stud-ies. During spare time, dun langako naglalaan ng time to practice samga pageants,” she said.

This kind of time managementhas produced a winning streak ofsorts. When she was in 5th grade,she was named Ms. Star Margarineof her school. A year later, she wascrowned UPHSD Ms. Grade School2008. She became 1st Runner Up ofMs. PRISSAP (Private SecondarySchools Association of the Philip-pines) and 3rd Runner Up of Ms.YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Asso-ciation) in 2009.

“Before the pageant, I makesure that prepared ako especiallysa Q and A.

Hindi ko iniisip na maramingtaong nanonood. Sinasabi ko sasarili ko na parang ganito lang to,parang interview. There is no rightor wrong answer. Dapat maging

DOUBLETHREAT:BEAUTY andbrains.JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

KILLER smile JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

8

AKTV AND NCAA

Above the Hoopsdancing competition at the end ofthe season.

On his part, Lazatin is excitedto see how the students’ viewingexperience is going to change.“I’m also looking forward to seehow the general public will reactto the NCAA games. Before, hindinaman nila napapanood kasi ei-ther they’re at work or they’re do-ing something else ‘pag pinapa-labas yung mga games. We’re ea-ger to see how receptive they’ll bewith the new schedule because,for a lot of sports viewers, wethink this is going to be a rathernew experience.’’

Meanwhile, AKTV is devotinga lot of effort into making every-one aware that they’re the newNCAA partner and that there willnow be a different schedule tocatch the games. “In the shortterm, may mga maninibago atfirst, as with all things that arenew,” says Lazatin. “[But] we feelthat in the long run, this pro-gramming strategy is really forthe better. People will still be ableto catch most of the games live.It’s change, it’s something new, it’ssomething different but I think inthe long run it’ll be (viewer)friendlier, even for those nanasanay nang manood sa mgadating oras.”

By Dindin Villafuerte

F ANS and followers of the NCAA, get ready to seemore of your favorite teams and athletes. For its2012-2013 season, the National Collegiate Ath-

letic Association teamed up with TV5’s AKTV for itsgame coverage which promises a fan-friendlier view-ing schedule and more than just basketball.

“When we took on theNCAA, we knew that we want-ed to take it in a slightly differ-ent direction because we sawall these potential for theleague. Ang ganda ng action ngleague, there’s a lot of passionin the teams, napakaangas nganung aksyon, in fact. So weknew we wanted to be able tocapitalize [on] that,” says VittoLazatin, sports manager for AK-TV and Sports5.

AKTV wants to bring theNCAA to a wider audience andmake it more fan-friendly so thefirst thing they are going to dois broadcast games on a sched-ule that can suit not only NCAAfans and alumni well but eventhe general public. Basketballgames will be seen from 4 p.m.to 8 p.m. on Mondays, Thurs-days and Saturdays.

“It’s more primetime becausewe think that schedule is goingto work better for the student

population, for the alumni, andeven [for] people who mayhave only occasionally—or mayhave never—seen the NCAA.Mas madali nilang mapapa-nood,” explains Lazatin whohandles AKTV and Sports5’ssports content and program-ming.

Fans can also look forward toseeing more than just basketball.AKTV will be showing some fullgame coverage of volleyball andseason-long highlights of all thedifferent sports that are happen-ing in the NCAA. Lazatin shares,“It’s definitely not just basketballbecause the NCAA, after all, is re-ally college sports and they haveso many promising athletes inbasketball, volleyball, tennis, foot-ball, badminton. So really whenwe talk about the NCAA, it’s notjust college basketball. Some ofthe finals of certain key events arealso expected to be aired by AKTVas well as, of course, the cheer-

‘Point Laureate’ takes command at MendiolaBy Patrick Leonard Mayo

IN TIMES OF CRISIS, oneshould depend on peoplewho have proven their de-pendability especially introubling times. With the re-cent departure of FrankieLim as head coach of theSan Beda Red Lions, theschool opted to tap the ser-vices of a dependable veter-an of the game. A pure pointguard who also bleeds “Red”and has a history with theschool that goes a long wayback. San Beda appointedthe PBA’s “Point Laureate”Ronnie Magsanoc to takeover the head coaching joblast April 2.

The 46-year-old Magsanocwas asked to help stabilize theprogram amidst the turmoilthe team had experienced inrecent months. He considersthe head coaching job as ahomecoming of sorts and goingfull circle, having played andwon championships for the SanBeda Red Cubs in the early80’s together with long-timehard court partner Benjie Parasand current NU Bulldogs tacti-cian Eric Altamirano.

Magsanoc says that didn’t re-ally come to instill a brand newsystem to the team but only tocomplement the existing one.“Hindi ko naman talaga ginalawyung system ni Coach Frankie.Remember that it’s a winning

program and the only differencefor this year is that we are re-building.”

With most of its core players-gone, San Beda is rebuilding.

Being used to pressure back inhis playing days in the collegiateranks and in the pros, Magsanocknows very well how to handle itby not really paying much atten-tion to it at all. “Kung iintindihinko pa yung mga expectations andthe void that I have to fill, I thinkit would be overwhelming. Sowhat I’m trying to look at rightnow is trying to focus on thingsthat I can have control of, whichmeans teaching the players,learning from them and immers-ing myself in collegiate basket-ball.”

Being a true Bedan at heart,he plans on giving nothing butpure service to hon-or his school. “Mymotivation incoming to San Be-da is really to servethe school and tohelp the playersreach their potentials,iyan talaga ang foundationko, to help these boys get towhere they want to and hope-fully encourage them to finishtheir education as student ath-letes. Kasi not all will succeedin basketball but I hope every-body will find that inner driveto finish their studies and pur-sue higher calling in basketball,kung kaya nila,” he said.

HUGE TARGETSVITTO Lazatin, sportsmanager for AKTV andSports5 eyes to bringthe NCAA to a wideraudience and make itmore fan-friendly.

HOMECOMINGMAGSANOCready andcapable.

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