Cebu challenge

From the white-skinned foreigners to skin-whitened Filipinos, tourists have always somehow been attracted to the southern island of Cebu. While many visitors come in pursuit of things such as colonial architecture, indigenous history, or culinary curiosity, our peculiar group, composed of more than 70 showbiz personalities, press people, and VIPs, skimmed the sands and seas in the hope of winning own Omega Seamaster Watch in the Omega Seamaster Celebrity Challenge.

Practice Makes Picture Perfect

Waking up early the next day at the Shangri-La Mactan, I was dead sure that the organizers had engineered something extraordinary for these not-so-ordinary-contestants.

"Well, you guys will need to know how to jet ski, scuba dive, and build a raft tomorrow," the emcee declared over the microphone, leaving the finer details of the itinerary to the greater imagination of the audience. So, together with my assigned blue team composed of VIPs Dodi Panggol, Jayzell Villa together with fine-looking actresses Cheska Garcia and Desiree del Valle, I started walking towards the beachfront to begin the rigid training. Halfway through the promenade, I couldn’t help but notice the peculiar scuba lessons that were unfolding by the poolside. Near the ledge, the Korean divemaster would give verbal instructions not only to the submerged group below, but also to the looming digital TV camera and boom microphone of ABS-CBN’s Sports Unlimited. Meanwhile emerging from the cabaña behind, Lucy Torres-Gomez, trailed by her daughter Juliana and a barricade of paparazzi photographers, would skirt around the sun chairs to take some pictures of her famous husband who was leisurely practicing some drills in the water.

"Is this the stuff we’ll be using for the raft?" I asked the man who was trying to weave some rope through a set of stacked bamboos by the beach. The inconspicuous Samaritan turned out to be bad boy movie star Jay Manalo, who was congenial enough to show our urban-raised motley crew how to build a legitimate floating vessel from just 14 bamboos and two ropes. Between playing a Pinoy version of Celebrity Survivor by the shore and checking out the steamy sand-grappling/hair-flicking photo shoot of Viva Hot Babe Gwen Garci by the water, I felt reassured that I had acquired the necessary tactile skills and visual inspiration for the arduous day ahead.

The Amazing Aquatic Race

"Okay everybody. Read the first clue now!" the marshal declared over the P.A. system the next morning, addressing the sleepy-eyed congregation who were all clad in bright red Omega shirts, belt bags, and caps. With the first daunting task of retrieving a treasure chest under 15 feet of sea water, Desiree, without hesitation, traded-in her flip-flops for some fins and a snorkeling mask, aggressively paddling towards the buoy in the far distance much like a feminist reincarnation of a Muro-Ami. Several minutes and deep breaths later, the heavy wooden chest revealed a black plastic bag containing a picture of an Omega Seamaster watch and several large puzzle pieces. After hastily reconstructing the diagram on the sand, we were then instructed to clear the monkey bars found a few meters away. So, from configuring shapes like homo-sapiens to dangling around like primates, each of us swung our white-palmed hands from one steel bar to another as the several marshals recorded our performance from the sidelines.

"Back to the beach!" our teammates Dodi and Jazell shouted, holding the next clue in their hands. Noticing that the other teams were scrambling to gather bamboos and rope, I knew that time had come to put our raft-building skills to the test. Luckily by some stroke of genius or just accrued good karma, we were able not only to successfully assemble the contraption but also place Cheska on top and paddle the vessel towards the breakwater where a fleet of revved-up Wave Runner jet skis had been parked.

"Ready! Get set! Go!" another marshal in the bangka declared, waving his arms, signaling us to hit the throttle switch. For about 20 minutes straight, I could barely keep my thumb on the button and my butt on the leather seat as our team skimmed the high seas towards the floating restaurant on the very far horizon.

Docking at the pier that afternoon, my group mates and I realized that even more strenuous tasks awaited us. Sure enough, in the span of a few short hours, each group participated in body boggling itinerary that included scuba diving, eating raw shellfish, riding a water chariot, parasailing, and traveling on a banana boat all the way back to the resort against the white-capped Visayan waves.

Cebuano Celebration

Crossing that finish line with salt water in our eyes and sand in our ears, the entire celebrity congregation had every right to dry up and let loose that night. With the compendium of TV and movie personalities scattered across the Indian-style dining tables, the awarding ceremony could double as a remote Cebuano telecast of the Star Awards. After the distribution of the minor plaques, the grand prize winners including GMA TV gagman Wendell Ramos and neophyte Margaret Wilson, among others, ecstatically showed off their brand new Omega Seamaster watches to the awe of the crowd below.

With the subsequent entry of bikini-clad performer Ethel Booba into the center stage, our table discreetly started walking towards Coco Loco Night Club a few meters away to orchestrate an entertainment special of our own. In one corner, actors Miko Palanca and Nadia Montenegro quickly claimed one of the billiard tables in the private rooms, assigning personality Shintaro Valdes as the celebrity referee. Meanwhile in the middle of the room, comedian Dominic Ochoa, without warning and still staring at his dance partner, would periodically plunge into a half split on the black marble dance floor, sending off the audience into an instantaneous laugh trip. However for the ad hoc finale, I somehow found myself backed up by the live band and alongside Rachel Lobangco of She-Boom She-Boom fame, belting a medley of tear-jerking duets from Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang to How do You Keep the Music Playing over the unsuspecting sound system. With the conclusion of that surreal production number as well as the event altogether, our peculiar group left that Southern island of Cebu the next morning, bearing grins on our faces, some color on our skin, and literally, a spectacle-load of memories.

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E-mail the author at mybubbleboy@hotmail.com