FORMER Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Ramon S. Fernandez (left) and Sheldon Vincent Kintanar (right), executive director of the Ramon S. Fernandez Sports and Youth Development Foundation (RSDF) explains the rationale of the 1st El Presidente Cup: The Ramon Fernandez Charity Golf Tournament on June 11, 2023. (Photos by Rommel C. Manlosa)
CEBU City, Philippines – Four-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ramon “El Presidente” Fernandez is taking his elegant shot on the fairways with a fundraiser tournament aimed to generate funds for the grassroots sports development projects that will make Cebu and Visayas sports calendar occupied in 2024.
The tournament is scheduled on June 11, at the 18-hole Liloan Golf and Leisure Estates facilities located in Yati, Liloan, which was formally launched through a press conference held at the Cebu Quincentennial Hotel near Ayala Business Park at noon on May 23. The basketball legend was with Sheldon Vincent “Bobbi” Kintanar, the executive director of the Ramon S. Fernandez Sports and Youth Development Foundation (RSFSYDF), and his spouse Karla Kintanar-Fernandez.
“It is a young course, but it’s a world class facility. It’s par 72, short but challenging with a narrow fairway carved out from the mountains of Yati, Liloan. It’s scenic and panoramic,” described the former Philippine Sports Commission commissioner of the venue, which is owned and developed by Lito Barino of the Duros Group.
Fernandez and Barino along with former Cebu Gems head coach of the defunct MBA Tonichi Yturri, the current Talk ‘N Text head coach Jojo Lastimosa, golf course designer Noel “Toti” Cariño and Dumaguete City Mayor Epe Remolla will do the ceremonial tee-off to signal the start of the competition.
“This year we want to focus on raising funds for the foundation through sports events and presentations to possible donors here and abroad. We are happy to belong to the Spring Rain Global philanthropic ecosystem where over 140 philanthropic development offices of PDOs worldwide regularly meet up and help each other,” added Fernandez.
The tournament will adopt the Modern Stableford Scoring where the winners will go home with elegant glass trophies and exciting prizes.
The participation fee is P5000 inclusive of the green fees, caddy fee and golf cart plus a limited-edition Ramon S. Fernandez collectible card which is worth P3,500, an autographed basketball, El Presidente Cup shirt, tumbler set, microfiber towel, sports sack bag and Nestle Milo gift packs giveaways to the participants.
“Our main objective in the foundation is to help discover and prepare our young athletes. In my time as a PSC commissioner, I introduced the Childrens Games in the Visayas, with the main purpose to engage the youth in sports. But training is dull so also devised a project to help the young athletes evolve to a better athlete through competition with the Visayas Open, which is a quarterly tournament focused on Olympic individual and weight category sports such as boxing, weightlifting, karate, taekwondo. This was our regional grass roots development program to support the national grassroots program of the PSC which is the Batang Pinoy. The theme of those events is ‘Yes to Sport, No to Drug’ campaign,” Fernandez continued.
Aside from the gold tournament, the RSFSDF also planned other sports related fundraiser that includes Marathon, 3×3 Basketball challenge, VisMin Basketball League, a Masters Shooting Competition and Hoops Hall Museum event.
Three brand new cars – a Hondra Brio, a Jetour Dashing and a Toyota Hilux Conquest, a brand-new Aprillia Motorcyle SGT 200 and P100,000 cash are at for the Hole-in-1 prizes and a multitude of raffle prizes that also giveaway a brand-new Vespa Motorcycle as the grand prize. RCM
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