Army general heads snipers shootfest winners

TAYTAY, Rizal  ,Philippines – An Army Major General, a former amateur boxer and taekwondo black-belter, and a hobbyist bucked the odds and topped their respective events in the Philippine National Shooting Association’s first Snipers Shooting competition at the muddy Taytay Tactical Rifle Range here over the weekend.

South Luzon Command (SOLCOM) commander Maj. Gen. Roland Detabali flashed superb marksmanship and ruled the expert rifleman semi-automatic open division over a field headed by Gen. Fred Martinez and Francis Perez.

Another Armyman, Sgt. Allan Lao, shared the spotlight as he topped the master rifleman semi-auto standard division, beating Rodney Rizano, Harry Cabunoc, Jose Antonio Medina, Randy Paronda and Roselito Collado, while leading Army squad to victory in the RO semi-auto standard category.

“I knew I would win, I’m not really surprised to win,” said the 30-year-old Lao, who is assigned at Camp O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac. He was undefeated in four matches as an amateur boxer in his early teens before he shifted to taekwondo where he eventually became a black-belter.

“These will now be part of my collection, I have like 40 plus trophies in my cabinet,” said Lao, who turned to shooting after joining the ranks nine years ago.

Hobbyist Randy Paronda, meanwhile, shared the limelight as he topped the master rifleman semi-auto open division ahead of Luis Gonzales, Stephen Santiago, Joe Guerrero, Jorge Gacula and Maria Parsons while leading the RO semi-auto open category team of Gonzales and Parsons to victory.

“It’s just a hobby for me, sometimes I teach on the side but only to my friends,” said the 39-year-old Paronda.

One of Paronda’s students include the 51-year-old Gonzales, who took home a total of four trophies, including three first place feats.

Gonzales, a television director and musical composer and the ex-husband of singer Kuh Ledesma, dominated the senior semi-auto open and standard categories. He also teamed up with Paronda and Parsons, the lady semi-auto open category titlist, in the RO semi-auto open.

“I’ve started to train only this year and it’s a good feeling to win after going through a lot,” said Gonzales.

The three-day event was organized by national shooting chief and Harbour Centre owner Mikee Romero and backed by AirAsia, Gerry’s Grill, Playboy Phl, History Channel and Harbour Centre.