Shooting hoops to shore up hope
November 24, 2001 | 12:00am
He lives 7,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean, but in the last four years, Francis Padua-Papica has sent over 50 underprivileged kids to school in his home province of Bicol. Francis is a Los Angeles-based lawyer who migrated to the US in 1985. Unlike many Filipinos who leave their native soil without turning back or worse, are ashamed of their Filipino roots, after 16 years earning his bread and butter in foreign shores, Francis has not forgotten what it means to be Filipino.
Through the Francis Padua-Papica Foundation, created in 1997, Francis awards deserving Bicolano elementary and high school students who have shown exemplary leadership qualities a chance to finish a college education and, like him, give back to society what was given them.
Truth to tell, Francis looks more American than Filipino, but this Fil-Am has planted his heart in the Philippines. When cager Vince Hizon accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 1992, he never expected to turn professional and call the Philippines home. Almost a decade later, this "Kano" has become a full-fledged Pinoy.
Vince launched the Vince Hizon Foundation (VHF) in 1998 after he read a survey by TNT-Warner where he was voted Most Popular Sports Figure in the country among Filipino kids. Touched by the honor, he decided to find a way to pay them back. Believing in the importance of formal education, Vince established the Vince Hizon Foundation, Partners in Education, that aims to encourage kids to "stay in school." The foundation has helped set up two public libraries in Sta. Ana, Manila and Tandang Sora, Quezon City in conjunction with "Books for the Barrios" and Jollibee, respectively.
Through his foundation, Vince also gives free basketball clinics in public schools in depressed areas around the metropolis. Currently, the VHF is raising funds to set up computer centers in public schools across the country, beginning in Mindanao, where the kids are farthest behind in the information technology world.
Francis and Vince are two of a kind. In these trying times, when ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet, making it difficult (if not impossible) to reach out to the many who are fighting for survival each day, Vince and Francis strive to make it possible.
Last November 3, the first "Vince Hizon Foundation Charity Basketball Game and Concert" took place at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City. Professional and celebrity basketball players came out to support the charity event. Fourteen players all played for a good cause, including: Cebu Gems’ Joey Sta. Maria, The Basketball Show host and sports columnist Bill Velasco, funny man Willie Revillame, San Juan Knight Christian Calaguio, Talk N’ Text’s Bong Ravena, MBA’s Dominic Uy and PBA’s Sta.Lucia consultant (and the team’s playing coach) Alfrancis Chua donned the And1 Hoopsters uniform. The opposing And1 Ballers were composed of the formidable team of: San Juan Knights’ Omanzie Rodriguez, MTB host John Estrada, former Purefoods player Ulysses Tanigue, sports-minded presidential son Dato Arroyo, PBA legend Samboy Lim, Vince Hizon, and PBA’s Sta. Lucia head coach Norman Black (who also served as playing-coach for the Ballers).
After the players entertained the audience and had a lot of laughs on the court, even more laughs came with a standup act from unstoppable comedian Gary Lising, who sent the audience rolling off its seats. The stage was later set for the seven-band concert that followed, with surprise host, MTV VJ KC Montero, charming the audience all night. All seven bands – Barbie’s Cradle, Alamid, Battery, Wall of Sound, 3rd World Project, Mojofly and Music Making Company – played three or four songs each to make the six-hour-long event a truly memorable one.
To cap off both foundations’ year-end fund raising events the "Concert King" Martin Nievera staged "Martin’s Evening... for a Cause" at the Captain’s Bar of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for the benefit of the Vince Hizon and Francis Padua-Papica Foundations. Martin’s act of generosity only showed that the "king" not only has a golden voice, but a "heart of gold," as well.
The celebrities and professionals who helped Vince and Francis make all these events possible waived their professional fees – so valuable these days when people are struggling to make a decent living. Their whole-hearted participation was an inspiring display of how the human spirit can prevail when bound in a common cause.
Through the Francis Padua-Papica Foundation, created in 1997, Francis awards deserving Bicolano elementary and high school students who have shown exemplary leadership qualities a chance to finish a college education and, like him, give back to society what was given them.
Truth to tell, Francis looks more American than Filipino, but this Fil-Am has planted his heart in the Philippines. When cager Vince Hizon accepted a scholarship to play basketball for the Ateneo Blue Eagles in 1992, he never expected to turn professional and call the Philippines home. Almost a decade later, this "Kano" has become a full-fledged Pinoy.
Vince launched the Vince Hizon Foundation (VHF) in 1998 after he read a survey by TNT-Warner where he was voted Most Popular Sports Figure in the country among Filipino kids. Touched by the honor, he decided to find a way to pay them back. Believing in the importance of formal education, Vince established the Vince Hizon Foundation, Partners in Education, that aims to encourage kids to "stay in school." The foundation has helped set up two public libraries in Sta. Ana, Manila and Tandang Sora, Quezon City in conjunction with "Books for the Barrios" and Jollibee, respectively.
Through his foundation, Vince also gives free basketball clinics in public schools in depressed areas around the metropolis. Currently, the VHF is raising funds to set up computer centers in public schools across the country, beginning in Mindanao, where the kids are farthest behind in the information technology world.
Francis and Vince are two of a kind. In these trying times, when ordinary people are struggling to make ends meet, making it difficult (if not impossible) to reach out to the many who are fighting for survival each day, Vince and Francis strive to make it possible.
Last November 3, the first "Vince Hizon Foundation Charity Basketball Game and Concert" took place at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City. Professional and celebrity basketball players came out to support the charity event. Fourteen players all played for a good cause, including: Cebu Gems’ Joey Sta. Maria, The Basketball Show host and sports columnist Bill Velasco, funny man Willie Revillame, San Juan Knight Christian Calaguio, Talk N’ Text’s Bong Ravena, MBA’s Dominic Uy and PBA’s Sta.Lucia consultant (and the team’s playing coach) Alfrancis Chua donned the And1 Hoopsters uniform. The opposing And1 Ballers were composed of the formidable team of: San Juan Knights’ Omanzie Rodriguez, MTB host John Estrada, former Purefoods player Ulysses Tanigue, sports-minded presidential son Dato Arroyo, PBA legend Samboy Lim, Vince Hizon, and PBA’s Sta. Lucia head coach Norman Black (who also served as playing-coach for the Ballers).
After the players entertained the audience and had a lot of laughs on the court, even more laughs came with a standup act from unstoppable comedian Gary Lising, who sent the audience rolling off its seats. The stage was later set for the seven-band concert that followed, with surprise host, MTV VJ KC Montero, charming the audience all night. All seven bands – Barbie’s Cradle, Alamid, Battery, Wall of Sound, 3rd World Project, Mojofly and Music Making Company – played three or four songs each to make the six-hour-long event a truly memorable one.
To cap off both foundations’ year-end fund raising events the "Concert King" Martin Nievera staged "Martin’s Evening... for a Cause" at the Captain’s Bar of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel for the benefit of the Vince Hizon and Francis Padua-Papica Foundations. Martin’s act of generosity only showed that the "king" not only has a golden voice, but a "heart of gold," as well.
The celebrities and professionals who helped Vince and Francis make all these events possible waived their professional fees – so valuable these days when people are struggling to make a decent living. Their whole-hearted participation was an inspiring display of how the human spirit can prevail when bound in a common cause.
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