Gilas Pilipinas: They are All Filipinos

“I’m gonna ask Marcus, if he doesn’t wanna play, we’ll go all-Filipino. If he wants to go home, he can go home.” - Chot Reyes, Gilas Pilipinas head coach

This is not about the "blame game." Rather, it is about the side -- but nonetheless very important -- issue highlighted by the reported incident post our Gilas Pilipinas's loss to Qatar in the men's basketball event of the 2014 Asian Games. This is really more on the semantics about our Pinoy sense of identity.

Coach Chot Reyes's threat that "we'll go all-Filipino" (which he subsequently made good of versus Korea) is a misnomer and discriminatory, as even center Marcus Douthit has become Filipino by virtue of naturalization. Perhaps Reyes should have said, in reference to all his athletes, that "we'll go all-homegrown Filipinos." But, that is also misleading, as Jimmy Alapag, Gabe Norwood and Jared Dillinger all grew up and first played ball in the States. Or maybe "all full-blooded Filipinos"? Well, Norwood and Dillinger’s respective fathers are both Americans. And Marc Pingris has a Frenchman for a father. Likewise, consider Jeff Chan and Paul Dalistan Lee’s Chinese ancestry.

The accurate and safe statement would have been this simple: "If you don't want to play, Marcus, we'll play without you."

Now Douthit, who began wearing the Team Philippines color in 2010, has contributed greatly to our resurrection to a respectable level in international basketball. And, in spite of the recent report on his attitude in the match versus Qatar, I believe that he has always played as a true and proud Filipino athlete the moment he was granted our citizenship in 2011 -- already a year since he began representing our nation. He has proven his immense worth to our national team in spite of occasional dips in his athletic performance, which befall all athletes, elite or otherwise.

In the spirit of internationalism, the profession and acquisition of national citizenship have gone beyond the realm of legalities, even more than the issue of blood. Ultimately, consistent with the Gilas Pilipinas battle cry, it is a matter of puso (heart) -- and soul. 

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3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Figaro Starbucks

Brisk walking with one foot

in a sandal and the other bare,

fast drumming pounds the

insides of your breast.

Brain quivering in uneasy

suspension inside your skull,

you fire off tall tales that

amuse the neighborhood.

You had one cup too many,

and tomorrow much more.

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3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

When you left

Every step taken farther, a widening of the wound,

And that corner of the derelict building, where

You last turned and vanished, the final curtain.

And blood follows you with crimson drops

Forever seared on the forlorn street;

Every one of them mine,

All mine.

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3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Sweet distractions

Something I can’t divine

disrupts my Internet line,

while I’m trying to listen

to epic poetry online.

Milo and Kael are running

all over and shouting,

so I command for silence

as time is of the essence.

Maleeha keeps wailing

blissfully while dragging

inside her reliable walker.  

Then the laptop stutters.

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

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3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City

Drunk and home (senryu)

I don't drink and brush;
I'll crawl to my bed, let the
toothpaste go to waste.

This blog is sponsored by Limitado

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and S.P.R.A.W.L.-MMA

3rd floor JN Building, 657 EDSA corner Monte De Piedad Street, Barangay Immaculate Concepcion, Cubao, Quezon City