Last chance to join contest

Today is the last day for you to submit entries for our Christmas contest. The deadline is 4 p.m. You may bring your entries directly to The Philippine STAR office in Port Area. We’ll pick out 25 winners who are guaranteed to take home a bundle of prizes. The list of winners will be published in this column on Sunday, Dec. 18. Winners may claim their prizes at The Philippine STAR office at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

The first prize will include P50,000 in cash donated by WBO welterweight champion Rep. Manny Pacquiao (P10,000), the Philippine Olympic Committee (P10,000), Philippine National Shooting Association president and Philippine Patriots ABL team co-owner Dr. Mikee Romero (P10,000), racehorse owner Hermie Esguerra (P10,000), Games and Amusements Board chairman Juan Ramon Guanzon (P5,000) and Bodyworx owner Kathy Lim Uy (P5,000). More cash donations are expected to make the pot even bigger.

Here are the other prizes to be distributed to the 25 winners. From Dioceldo Sy of Ever Bilena – three cases of XSM sardines, three cases of Ever Bilena natural hand and body moisturizing lotion, two cases of Blackwater soap; Tony Aldeguer of the ALA Boxing Gym – a pair of ALA Gym boxing gloves, ALA Gym bag, seven ALA Gym shirts; Pro Solutions managing director Yenny Gonzales – five Wi-Tribe tri-speed pure 4G pre-paid sticks; assistant sales and marketing manager Kaye Tan of Burlington Industries – 25 Biofresh antimicrobial sports towels; Smart Sports – 30 “Cultivating a Culture of Champions” shirts; Cristina Aspiras of Emerald Headway – eight magazines, including Esquire, Gentlemen’s Quarterly and Men’s Journal; Ramesh Mirpuri – 25 Beverly Hills Polo shirts; Anil Buxani of Sonia Trading – 15 basketballs, five Gosen gym bags, five badminton rackets with bags; Maynilad president Ricky Vargas – four sports jackets, four handcart kits, four sports bottles; communications director Ayi Magpayo of De La Salle University – notecards, notebooks, Green Archer sports bottles, ballers, pencils; Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia – three footballs, three basketballs, Philippine team bag, Philippine team track suit; Accel – 12 sports shirts, three sports bags and Philippine Taekwondo Association president Robert Aventajado – P5,000 SM gift certificates.

More prizes are expected from PLDT, Petron, Ginebra San Miguel, B-Meg/Purefoods, Meralco, Rain Or Shine, Barako Bull Energy, Alaska Milk, POC chairman Monico Puentevella, POC vice president Manny Lopez, LBC, The Philippine STAR and the PBA.

It’s easy to join. All you have to do is to answer four questions correctly, write down your answers on a slip of paper and send to “The Christmas Contest.” The Philippine STAR, Sports Section, R. Oca, Jr. and Railroad Streets, Port Area, Manila. Each entry must contain an actual clipping of the front-page masthead of The Philippine STAR taken from any issue dated Dec. 1 to Dec. 15 this year. Aside from the answers, you must write your name, age, occupation (if student, what grade or level, course, school, location), address, telephone number (for quick contact), signature and in 100 words or less, what makes you read The Philippine STAR from cover to cover on the same slip of paper. One entry means one slip of paper and one actual clipping of the front-page masthead (no Xerox copies allowed). You may send in multiple entries.

The four questions are: (1) Who are the two Mexican fighters Manny Pacquiao has faced in separate trilogies? (2) What track event does recent Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Maristella Torres compete in? (3) Who are the Philippines’ two Olympic silver medalists and what years did they win their silver medals? (4) Who is the reigning PBA MVP?

Your answers to the four questions must be correct in order to qualify for the winners’ draw.

Pro Solutions’ donation of five Wi-Tribe tri-speed pure 4G pre-pair sticks has generated a lot of interest among readers. The stick is the first and only one of its kind in the country. No other pre-paid service lets you switch connection speeds all in one device. You can set your internet speed to 512 kbps, 2 mbps or a blinding 6 mbps all in one device. The instrument allows unlimited internet use per day, week or 15 days on a pre-paid basis. 

“All-in-one speeds and at insanely flexible pricing terms, make Wi-Tribe tri-speed pure 4G pre-paid internet sticks more than the mobile internet back-up, you’ll want to use it all the time, everyday,” said marketing communications head Jay Reantaso. “Wi-Tribe Telecoms is the only internet service provider with pure 4G network. Being the newest player in the industry, Wi-Tribe Telecoms has the advantage of investing in the latest technology available.”

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B-Meg coach Tim Cone said the other day no team is hungrier than his in the chase for the PBA Philippine Cup title. “You never want to go to a winner-take-all game if you can avoid it and we certainly don’t want to do that with a young and up-and-coming team like Powerade,” he said. “Next to Ginebra, they’ve been the hot team down the stretch of the conference. True, they are hungry but I can’t imagine anyone being more hungry than we are. As for being the top seed, for us, all the seeding does is tell us who we’re playing in the playoffs. That’s it. No one will remember we were the No. 1 seed if we don’t go deep into the playoffs. The playoffs are what we prepared for.”

Cone modestly deflected attention on B-Meg as the league’s hottest team at the moment. The Llamados won eight in a row entering yesterday’s game. The winner of the B-Meg-Powerade duel advances to play the Rain Or Shine-Ginebra survivor in the semifinals.