Pieces from Cebu in the Euro 2008

After months of preparation, today will be a big day for our group as the 1st Albino ‘Amo’ D. Gothong Memorial Golf Tournament tees off at Alta Vista Golf and Country Club.

If you have been lucky enough to have taken part in tournaments organized by the late Amo during the 1990s and the early part of this decade, then you are lucky.

However, we hope to give those who did not have a chance to do so take part in an event that also offers wonderful prizes not just for the winners, but also the majority of the participants who are in it for the fun and camaraderie.

All players, who will be attending tomorrow’s awards ceremony at Cebu Grand Convention Center, will be taking home a prize.  The even luckier ones would be taking home two a minor raffle prize and a major raffle prize.

According to Bambi Gothong-Tan, Amo’s daughter, the grand prize will be a Philips 32-inch LCD TV plus a home theater system.  There are more than 40 other major raffle prizes at stake including a trip to Boracay courtesy of Ninong Eddie Cimafranca.

The group surely did not have a very easy time putting the event together, but things just seem to fall in place.

This is all for the love of the game for our love and respect for Amo, who we also called Tatay.

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The European Football Championships or the Euro Cup 2008 kicks off on Saturday in Austria and Switzerland.

The tournament, which is only second in magnitude to the World Cup, will feature the best of Europe including reigning World Cup champion Italy and defending champions Greece.

Here is an interesting piece of news that I got from Love Joy Malicay, corporate affairs manager of Dedon Manufacturing Inc.

Love Joy told me that there is a piece of Cebu in the tournament as Dedon is once again a partner of the German team.

Dedon, which manufactures furniture for export, will be providing the pieces that would be used in the German team hotel that would create an atmosphere where the players would feel very comfortable in the team quarters.

Germany won the Euro in 1996 and was host of the World Cup in 2006 where Dedon also was one of the partners of its national team.

Dedon was founded by Bobby Dekeyser, a former professional football player for Bayern Munich FC in the Bundesliga.  Dedon exports its products to 85 countries.

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MILESTONES: Congratulations to two of my fraternity brothers, who recently got elected to different positions.

First, I’d like to congratulate Atty. Israelito ‘Bobet’ Torreon, who was elected president of the Ateneo de Davao Law Alumni Association last weekend.

Also elected last weekend was my brother Mark Chang of the USC Law School, who is the new president of the Association of Law Students of the Philippines.

More power my brothers!