Winners claim prizes

The other day, the 26 winners of our "Christmas Treat" contest trooped to The Star office in Port Area to claim their prizes.

The winners started coming in at about 3:30 p.m. One of the winners, Ronald Ramos, took a bus ride all the way from his home in San Miguel, Tarlac, and reached The Star office after a commute of nearly four hours. He took another bus ride home with a sackful of goodies in tow.

The prizes were a post-Christmas bonus for the lucky winners who sent in entries naming Willie Miller as this year’s Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Most Valuable Player and picking Coca-Cola as the All-Filipino champion. The entries were received or postmarked, if mailed, before Game 3 of the All-Filipino Finals.

The first prize winner Nilo Santiago of Paguio Compound, Sta. Lucia, Novaliches, brought home a bounty that included a Motorola dual band cellphone from Talk ‘N’ Text, an Accel traveling bag from the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), a PBL gym bag from PBL chairman Dioceldo Sy, a San Miguel reversible jacket and umbrella from the San Miguel Group, a Nike pro pack (including a soccer ball, shirt, and training gear), an Coleman 1/3 gallon jug from Alaska, an Ever Bilena beauty case, an And 1 CD-ROM of Kevin Garnett from Ideaplus, three rolls of Agfa Film from Photokina, a Shark Energy Drink collared T-shirt, a bottle of PBA "Score" cologne, a pair of National Basketball Association (NBA) socks from ProStar, a Philadelphia 76ers T-shirt, a Red Bull basketball, a bag of assorted soft drinks from Coca-Cola, two magazines from Emerald Headway, a Red Bull championship calendar, a No Fear pocket calendar, a P3,000 gift check from Sta. Lucia Realty, a Mikasa volleyball, a Puma cap, and 10 Little Caesar’s solo supreme pizza gift certificates from RFM’s Elmer Yanga.

Santiago, 30, is a propsman at SM Fairview where he has been employed for six years. He is married with three children, aged 3, 4, and 7. His wife is a public school teacher in San Gabriel Elementary in Sta. Lucia, Novaliches. His favorite PBA team is Barangay Ginebra and his favorite player is Eric Menk. This was the second Star contest he joined and first time he won. Santiago said he sent in 30 entries and couldn’t believe his luck when he read in The Star that he won the grand prize.

The second prize winner was Leah Lim of Don Santiago Building, 1344 Taft Avenue, Manila. Her haul consisted of a Motorola dual band cellphone, a San Miguel travel bag and reversible jacket, a PBL gym bag, a Red Bull basketball, a FedEx umbrella, a bag of assorted Purefoods canned goods, a bag of assorted soft drinks from Coca-Cola, an Ever Bilena beauty case, Nike soccer gear, a Coleman 1/3 gallon jug from Alaska, an Alaska E-Cow stuffed toy, an And 1 CD-ROM of Kevin Garnett, a pair of NBA socks, a Shark Energy Drink collared T-shirt, a 76ers T-shirt, a Puma cap, two rolls of Agfa film, two magazines from Emerald Headway, a Red Bull championship calendar, a No Fear pocket calendar, a P1,000 gift check from Sta. Lucia Realty, a Mikasa volleyball, and five Little Caesar’s solo supreme pizza gift certificates.

Lim, 25, is a practicing dentist. Like Santiago, she also submitted 30 entries. She’s a sports fanatic and a loyal Star reader. Her brother shares her interest in sports.

The third prize winner was Rodolfo Pangilinan of No. 7 Sta. Monica Compound, Malinta, Valenzuela. He carted away a Konica camera, a PBL bag, a Red Bull basketball, a bag of assorted Purefoods canned goods, a bag of assorted soft drinks from Coca-Cola, a FedEx umbrella, an Ever Bilena beauty case, a Coleman 1/3 gallon jug from Alaska, an Alaska E-Cow stuffed toy, a bottle of PBA "Score" cologne, Nike soccer gear, a pair of NBA socks, two rolls of Agfa film, a Shark Energy Drink collared T-shirt, a 76ers T-shirt, two magazines from Emerald Headway, a Red Bull championship calendar, a No Fear pocket calendar, a P1,000 gift check from Sta. Lucia Realty, a Mikasa volleyball, and five Little Caesar’s solo supreme pizza gift certificates.

Pangilinan, 42, is married with five children aged 8, 10, 14, 19, and 22. He has worked as a subcontractor for a garment factory the last eight years. His wife Rosemarie owns a drug store. He was represented by his brother-in-law Rogelio Gan in claiming his prize.

Gan said there are 15 families who live in the Sta. Monica Compound and the only newspaper they subscribe to is The Star.

Star editor-in-chief Isaac Belmonte met the winners and joined them in a picture-taking. He congratulated the winners and encouraged them to send in their comments on how to make The Star even better.

Star president and chief executive officer Miguel Belmonte talked sports with the winners and gave each of them a gift pack made up of a gym bag, a T-shirt, and a desk calendar. Mr. Belmonte thanked the winners for continuing to patronize The Star.

The winners visited the sports area in the Star office and shook hands with the writers whose names they’ve been familiar with as by-lines–editor Lito Tacujan, assistant editor Gerry Carpio and Nelson Beltran.

The Star’s sports section wishes to thank the following for donating the prizes in our "Christmas Treat" contest: Former PBA commissioner Jun Bernardino, PBL chairman Dioceldo Sy, PBL commissioner Chino Trinidad, Ira Maniquis of Barangay Ginebra, Robert Non of San Miguel Beer, Bobby Kanapi of Shell, Buddy Encarnado of Sta. Lucia Realty, George Balagtas and Rowena Sanchez of Photokina, Joaquin Trillo of Alaska, Elmer Yanga of RFM Corp., Frankie Lim of Talk ‘N’ Text, Rellie de Leon of No Fear, Goody Custodio of Adidas, Auty Villarama and Reli San Agustin of Nike, Roland So of Dunlop Slazenger, Anil Buxani of Sonia Trading, Bob Zozobrado of Idezplus, Tommy Ong of Footworks International, Rene Pardo of Purefoods, Maureen Ferrer of Emerald Headway, J. B. Baylon of Coca-Cola, Lito Alvarez of FedEx, Jay Gervasio of ProStar and Anton Gonzalez of Planet Sports.