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LA Tenorio’s head coaching era has started off triumphantly.

The Magnolia Hotshots welcomed Tenorio and the 50th season of the PBA with a bang after fending off Barangay Ginebra in a wire-to-wire affair, 80-73, in the Philippine Cup opener Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Zavier Lucero powered the Hotshots with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Jerom Lastimosa and the comebacking Javi Gomez-de Liano chipped in 14 markers apiece.

‘It was really hard, first of all, emotionally. I have to battle and really challenge my mind that it’s not about me and Coach Tim [Cone], it’s about Magnolia versus Ginebra. But, I just want to thank the players and my coaching staff. I really want to credit them, because they really guided me,’ Tenorio told reporters after the game.

‘Alam nila na mahirap especially in this kind of atmosphere. For the players, they were really ready going to this game, I really appreciate their effort, their fight, their focus coming to this game,’ he added.

The Hotshots erected a 15-point advantage, 63-48, with 10:10 remaining after a James Laput jumper.

But a 9-0 run, built by a layup by Japeth Aguilar, a 4-pointer by Jeremiah Gray and a 3-pointer by newly crowned Rookie of the Year RJ Abarrientos, sliced the deficit to six, 57-63, with 8:38 left.

However, huge shots by Lucero, Gomez-de Liano, Mark Barroca and Jerom Lastimosa kept the Gin Kings at bay.

The game was still within reach after a jumper by Stephen Holt that put them within striking distance, 69-78. Misses and turnovers by Ginebra, however, made it difficult for them as the clock melted.

Magnolia started the game waxing hot with 10 unanswered points, pumping the advantage to 14, 21-7, after a layup by Lucero.

But Ginebra was able to tow itself to within two points, 24-26, but could not tie or take the lead.

Rome dela Rosa chipped in 12 points for the Hotshots.

Holt had an all-around game for Ginebra, finishing with 16 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and a steal. Gray added 13 markers, while Troy Rosario and Abarrientos tallied 12 and 11, respectively.

Miguel Tabuena rattled off five straight birdies on the back nine to shoot a sizzling 65 and salvage a share of 11th place in the Jakarta International Championship, won by Australian Wade Ormsby in a sudden-death playoff on Sunday in Indonesia.

Tabuena, who dropped to a tie for 51st after back-to-back 71s at the par-70 Damai Indah Golf PIK course, struggled early despite opening with a birdie on the par-5 first. He settled for a string of pars and dropped a shot on the par-3 seventh for a 35.

But the two-time Philippine Open champion mounted a spirited comeback in the last nine holes, his birdie on No. 10 igniting a five-hole tear that vaulted him up the leaderboard. He closed with four straight pars to post a 30 and a five-under round, ending with a total of eight-under 272 – for a share of 11th alongside seven others.

That was just four strokes off the winning mark of 268 set by Ormsby and Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent, who both carded closing 69s. Ormsby eventually clinched the title with a routine par on the first playoff hole – the par-4 18th – where Vincent faltered after finding water on his approach.

Tabuena’s strong finish is expected to boost his confidence ahead of the upcoming Asian Tour event in Macau in two weeks.

Meanwhile, fellow Filipino Sean Ramos, who climbed to joint 14th after a gritty third-round 68, couldn’t maintain his momentum. Despite carding four birdies, he offset them with four bogeys for an even-par 70, dropping him to a tie for 19th at 273 – still a commendable showing in this International Series event.

Justin Quiban closed with a 69 to finish tied for 66th at 281.

Ormsby and Vincent, tied with India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar after 54 holes, battled neck-and-neck all day. Ormsby took an early edge with birdies on the second and fourth, while Vincent responded with a birdie at the seventh after birdying the first hole. Both bogeyed the ninth and made the turn with matching 34s.

Vincent pulled ahead with a birdie on 13, but bogeyed the 16th after missing the green, opening the door for a playoff.

Bhullar, who had birdied the first hole, stumbled with three bogeys on the front nine. He fought back with birdies on the 11th and 14th, but his round unraveled late with two double bogeys in the last four holes, finishing with a 74 and a tie for 19th alongside Ramos.

The mayor of Cotabato City has offered a P500,000 bounty for the gunmen behind the fatal ambush of a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman and his brother in a busy commercial hub on Saturday, October 4.

Mayor Bruce Matabalao, chairman of the Cotabato City Peace and Order Council, confirmed on Sunday, October 5, that he has allocated a P500,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunmen behind the ambush that killed Mohaz Salvador Matanog, SK chairman of Barangay Poblacion 5, and his brother Muamar.

Matanog, an engineering student at Cotabato City State University, died instantly from multiple gunshot wounds. His brother, who was severely wounded, died hours later at the Cotabato Regional Medical Center in the uptown area of Cotabato City.

The Matanog siblings were in a red Toyota Raize on their way somewhere when gunmen attacked them at the intersection of Jose Lim Sr. Street and Sinsuat Avenue, near Cotabato City Police Precinct 1.

Their assailants had also shot and wounded an on-duty policeman who responded to the incident, Patrolman Norsaiden Laguiali, before they escaped using getaway motorcycles.

Matabalao and Brig. Gen. Jaysen De Guzman, director of the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, separately condemned the incident, which triggered panic as gunshots echoed through the area where the Matanogs were ambushed, surrounded by commercial establishments and banks.

De Guzman told reporters that Col. Jibin Bongcayao, director of the Cotabato City Police Office, is personally overseeing the investigation into the atrocity, with support from Matabalao’s office and local barangay leaders.

Pope Leo XIV has appointed a new bishop in the Diocese of Boac in Marinduque, the Vatican said on Saturday, October 4 (Manila time).

The pontiff has appointed Edwin Oracion Panergo, a priest from the Diocese of Lucena, as the new prelate of the Marinduque-based diocese, who has been in ‘sede vacante’ since November 2024.

He replaces Bishop Marcelino Maralit Jr., who was installed as the Bishop of the Diocese of San Pablo in Laguna in November last year, following his appointment as the prelate of San Pablo in September 2024.

While the position remained vacant, the Boac diocese was overseen by Diocesan Administrator Elino Esplana.

Who is Panergo? Panergo, a native of Lucena City, currently serves as the rector of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Seminary in Sariaya, Quezon and directs the Diocese of Lucena’s Commission on Vocation.

His academic background includes philosophy studies at St. Francis de Sales Major Seminary in Lipa City and theology at St. Alphonsus School of Theology in Lucena.

Ordained a priest at Lucena Cathedral on Sept. 8, 1997, he further specialized with a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from St. Louis University in Baguio City and a licentiate in sacred theology from Notre Dame de Vie in Venasque, France.

Motorcycle-riding assailants shot dead a barangay kagawad in Alaminos town in this province on Thursday night.

Darwin Tolentino, 55, was tending his shop in Barangay Poblacion when two men on a motorcycle pulled over at past 6 p.m.

Probers said one of the riders barged into the shop and shot Tolentino at close range.

Relatives rushed Tolentino to the San Pablo Medical Center where he was declared dead on arrival.

Witnesses said the gunman was wearing a red shirt, white shorts pants and a black cap.

Probers have yet to determine the motive for the killing.

I’m putting the finishing touches on my updated four-volume book, One Day at a Time. This time it will be offered as a set of four books and will not be sold individually.

Each volume follows a season: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall.

However, our country has a different kind of four seasons. What we have is: Hot. Hotter. Hottest. Flood.

While our weather is basically a sweat-and-splash festival, our lives still pass through all four classic seasons. We don’t live in a permanent spring and summer. We also have our fall and winter phases.

It’s a full calendar on rotation. Some days you’re blossoms and birdsong; other days you’re a windchill with opinions. That’s not a bug – it’s the operating system.

We forget this because spring is such a persuasive salesperson: Hope! Buds! Fresh starts! Spring is the motivational poster of seasons. But trying to keep life in permanent spring is like trying to keep a balloon perfectly helium-ed forever: adorable for six minutes, wilted by afternoon.

The philosopher George Santayana nailed the mindset: ‘To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.’

There’s your fork in the road. One lane is attachment and nostalgia. The other is curiosity and growth.

There is no such thing as ‘forever spring.’

When we replay ‘the good old days,’ the struggle gets cropped out. There’s a Russian quip that ‘the past is more unpredictable than the future’ because memory is a sneaky editor – it knows how the story ends. As writer Morgan Housel puts it, ‘It’s hard to remember how you felt when you know how the story ends.’ We survived, so the brain slaps on a warm filter and calls it vintage.

New seasons ask for faith, experiments, and occasionally, some reading of the instructions along the way.

Life is a river. Whether you splash, float, or attempt the heroic backstroke to yesterday, and either way, the current moves on. Refusing to move with it is how we miss the prime-time moments of later seasons:

The quiet flex of growing old with your favorite person and discovering attraction has more chapters than you thought.

Dancing at your children’s weddings.

Discovering new muscles: patience, perspective, the ability to order soup without checking your phone.

Feeling grief – and with it the reminder that love was here, real and luminous.

These aren’t consolation prizes. They’re headline acts – if you’re willing to show up.

A greenhouse environment with constant spring weather sounds appealing at first, but it becomes a humid, controlled space that leads to mental exhaustion. The absence of contrast makes joy lose its vibrant colors and become dull and uninteresting. The hot summer weather helps people understand the value of finding cool spots to rest. The cool temperatures of autumn help people become more alert. The cold winter weather forces people to engage in meaningful conversations because they cannot escape or hide from the chill.

I learned from business philosopher Jim Rohn many years ago how to live through the different seasons of our lives.

Label your season. Are you planting (spring), compounding (summer), harvesting/ curating (autumn), or recovering/ retooling (winter)? Naming it kills the panic that comes with trying to do everything at once.

Match the metric to the season. Spring isn’t for perfect outcomes – it’s for reps. Summer celebrates momentum. Autumn measures quality over quantity. Winter tracks rest, repair, and relationships=wrong metric, wrong misery.

Update your identity like software. Versions are allowed. ‘Who I was at 25’ doesn’t have to run your 45-year-old hardware. Retire features. Keep the essentials.

Curate your companions. Spring needs cheerleaders. Summer needs collaborators. Autumn needs editors. Winter needs friends who bring soup and unhurried questions.

Schedule nostalgia; don’t live in it. I refuse to join the group chat of old friends from high school days that post nothing but songs from the ’60s and ’70s, harping on the ‘Good old days’ and how bad the world has become today. Be excited about today and the possibilities tomorrow brings. Letting go of past seasons doesn’t mean they weren’t beautiful. Keep the lessons; retire the costume. Mourn (briefly) what won’t return and still be thrilled about what’s next.

So, let’s meet whatever knocks next – with gratitude for what was, courage for what is, and curiosity for what’s coming.

Pack light: keep the lessons, ditch the costumes. Dress for the weather – umbrella and boots for rain and flood, sunscreen for the heat, a sweater for the soul.

Step into the day you’ve been given, one day at a time.

Choose interest over nostalgia, growth over comfort, faith over fear.

Open the door, smile at the season waiting there, and make it beautiful.

While 31 players were cut from last season’s PBA Philippine Cup rosters with no room to relocate, 27 veterans found new teams as the 50th anniversary season reels off tonight.

Among the players struck out from season-opening lineups were Jvee Casio, Mark Borboran, Terrence Romeo, Justin Chua, Jackson Corpuz and Allyn Bulanadi. The list includes Arvin Tolentino, William Navarro and Jamie Malonzo who’ve gone abroad. Some moved to MPBL while others are still waiting for a call or retired.

Veterans who’ve switched teams are Ginebra’s Norbert Torres, Blackwater’s David Murrell, Paul Zamar and Jed Mendoza, Converge’s Rafi Reavis, Magnolia’s Paolo Taha, Javi Gomez de Liaño, Raffy Verano and LA Tenorio (as playing coach), Phoenix’ James Kwekuteye, Francis Escandor, Evan Nelle, Prince Caperal, Bryan Santos and Yousef Taha, Rain or Shine’s Stanley Pringle, Terrafirma’s Jerrick Ahanmisi, Paul Garcia and Prince Rivero, Titan’s Ato Ular, Aljun Melecio, Jeo Ambohot, Von Pessumal and James Martinez and TNT’s Kevin Ferrer and Tyrus Hill.

So far, 14 rookies are on lineups with more expected to join when the MPBL season ends. The signed rookies are Ginebra’s Sonny Estil, Blackwater’s Dalph Panopio and Jack Dumont, Converge’s Juan Gomez de Liaño, Kobe Monje and Mark Omega, Magnolia’s Gab Gomez, Phoenix’ Dave Ando, San Miguel Beer’s Chris Miller and Royce Mantua, Terrafirma’s Ira Bataller and JM Bravo and Titan’s Chris Koon and Mario Barasi. Coming from MPBL include Terrafirma’s Geo Chiu, NLEX’ LJay Gonzales, Meralco’s Jason Brickman, Phoenix’ Will Gozum and Rain or Shine’s Christian Manaytay.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), is the government agency that is charged with the responsibility for Seismology, or the science that deals with earthquakes. It was established thru Executive Order No. 984, on September 17, 1984.

In the United States of America, the primary government agency that studies earthquakes is the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This American government office conducts research on earthquake causes and effects, monitors and reports on seismic activity, and assesses earthquake hazards.

An earthquake happens because there is a tectonic shifting of the earth’s crust and the apparent movement that takes place underneath. It is the PHIVOLCS that is our source of such information as the epicenter of the tremor. I understand that the epicenter is the very place on top of the rupture point. It was, however, from the report of the USGS that I got the information that the epicenter of the quake last Tuesday evening, September 30, was about nine kilometers southeast off the shore of Barangay Calape in the town of Daanbantayan. The USGS reported that a fault could be found there. With a depth of the rupture to have taken place only 10 kilometers, it was considered shallow such that the first vibration called in seismic science as the P wave, reportedly the strongest and fastest vibration travelling 5-12 kilometers per second, hit Daanbantayan first. The destruction that followed in Bogo City, Medellin, and other towns, is graphically carried in various social media platforms.

So much for that. This article is not about the unpredictability of earthquakes and other natural disasters. When I had the chance to visit the USGS in California, an official informed me that notwithstanding the advances of science and technology, they are nowhere near predicting when an earthquake is to happen. They expect the so-called ‘Big One’ anytime but they cannot say, for certain, when. He talked about the Great San Francisco Earthquake that occurred on April 18, 1906, registering magnitude 7.9. He further said that the tremor hit near the center of the city. Accordingly, the devastating fires that followed destroyed much of the city, killed an estimated 3,000 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

True to the off-tangent nature of this column, this article today is a kind of revision of the few of my earlier writeups. I am talking about sanctuaries which I suggested to our leaders to construct years ago.

I said then, as I say it now, there is a need for the government to build structures in anticipation of calamities like typhoons, floods and fires. I failed to include earthquakes in the enumeration of cataclysmic disasters because of their rarity. But with the devastation of some localities in the northern part of our province caused by the shaking of the earth, the idea of establishing sanctuaries is now an inescapable need. Government planners have a lot to do to meet such emergencies.

The structure that I suggested in my previous articles must be a place to function as a command center from where to respond to emergencies. It has to house identified first responders like firemen, policemen, relief and rescue personnel, and doctors and nurses in comfortable accommodations that do not neglect the demands of privacy rights. Putting them safe and secure under one roof makes communication fast and coordination of needed actions efficient.

In the building, there must be maintained radio and other forms of communications that connect to barangays, firefighting equipment, rescue implements, relief goods, and adequate medical needs and kits. In my earlier articles, I also cited the necessity of providing immediate housing to victims of calamities. The ‘sanctuary’ will answer this. People must not be brought to the schools because these structures are designed for entirely different purpose. Really, education must not be compromised.

Years have passed since my first article calling for the construction of sanctuaries. The havoc wrought by last Tuesday’s earthquake makes it imperative for our leaders to act.

The Cebu Greats gave their earthquake-hit townmates something to cheer about during this tough time.

Facing no tomorrow, the Greats pulled off a vengeful 65-57 victory over their former tormentor Davao Occidental Tigers in the knockout play-in to keep their playoff hopes alive in the Manny Pacquiao presents 1xBet-Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) 2025 Season on Saturday, September 4, at the Pola Gymnasium in Oriental Mindoro.

‘Among gihatag ang tanan para sa kapwa namo mga Cebuano. Despite sa nahitabo, makapalipay mi nila,’ said star guard Paul Desiderio, who led Cebu with 15 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

‘Una sa tanan, nagpasalamat mi sa Ginoo nga safe among pagbiyahe dire,’ said big man JR Quinahan, who cashed in seven points, nine rebounds, one assist, and one block in a triumphant return from injury.

‘Naninguha gyud mi nga modaog kay amo ning gi-dedicate ning duwaa para sa tanang taga-Cebu labi na sa mga naigo sa grabing linog,’ added the former PBA cager from Mandaue City.’Naa pami isa ka knockout game ug ihatag gihapon namo ang among best para makahatag og kalipay sa mga Cebuano.’

Jun Manzo also tallied 15 points with three assists and a steal for Cebu, which will next face either the Mindoro Tamaraws or the Zamboanga Sikat in another sudden-death duel for the eighth and last spot in the South Division playoffs.

Imagine you’re the president. You’ve decided to open a Pandora’s Box, and all these scandals and atrocities and vile deeds have engulfed the nation. It was a good idea at that time. Typhoons were buffeting the nation, and floods had overwhelmed the system and stoked public anger. Let’s go after those crooked engineers and their conspirator-contractors in the Department of Public Works (DPWH), shall we?

Along the way, minor corrupt officials, then bigger crocodiles, and finally, mammoth crooks who would have helped you chomp away at the coffers of the nation were exposed, reviled, and then disposed of.

But that’s not all. The uproar has engulfed political allies. Perhaps, they were only ever expedient to begin with. But they have been sacrificed at the altar of purity, and now you have less-friendly faces to surround yourself with.

It doesn’t stop just there though. Steadfast alliances are also being shaken, until eventually, those who held the helm of the Senate and the House of Representatives (your cousin!) are swiftly dispatched by events that were, for sure, unpredicted. That’s not even taking into consideration the alliance that propelled you to the presidency –the Duterte family– which left the chat group a long time ago.

What would you be thinking now? What would you be strategizing about? What’s the next move going to be?

Is the only agenda at this point ‘damage control’? Or did you bring us to this point which you had planned all along, ever since you gave that State of the Nation address and opened the corruption-gate?

Did you really intend to sacrifice these allies and friends and cronies (and cousin)? Or do you now find yourself along a slippery slope, trying to find brakes to hit?

What would be the next strategic move for a president who purports to be with the people and for the people in condemning corruption, and declaiming that he will root it out? His attack dogs from the Justice and DPWH departments are producing fantastic television sound bites, and the general sense is that they are sincere and doing their jobs. Would these two be enough to stave off the rage and frustration from bubbling over to the very top? Or is something or someone else needed?

Already, former Senate president Chiz Escudero is facing, in an age when Senatorial campaigns reach the billions, an ethics complaint for a measly ?30-million donation. Who would have thought that a frontal assault could ever be brought against the mild-mannered legislator with the popular celebrity-wife?

In the same vein, former speaker Martin Romualdez, whose negative publicity has thus-far been limited to the sporadic attacks by Vice President Sara Duterte (hence making the negativity disputable) has suddenly been in the papers pretty much every day for his control over the budget insertions that enabled the ghost project schemes. That quickly descended to very public exposés on his mansions, complete with addresses, and details on the Swiss private boarding schools where his sons went.

Were all these intended consequences? And what are those two thinking now?

Oh, newsflash. Chiz just threw a punch at Martin. Martin ducked, and has yet to throw a counter-punch. But something from his quarter must surely be in the works.

Et tu, Mr. President? What next after the hastily-convened Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI)? That might have appeased critics –but then they decided to hold closed-door sessions. That’s not going to do you any good. Was the plan then for the ICI to hold aloft some sacrificial cows (bigger than lambs) and then wrap it up and move on to the next scandal?

Political theater at its finest. But let’s check back in 10 years and see what developments were actually made. Politicians know how to dribble, and boy, right now, they need to play for their very lives. Are we going to get played? Or are all the bit players, all the nameless victims numbering in the millions, who have suffered and are suffering from the plunder of their national wealth, walking out and staging their own spectacle?

The stage is set.