Confucius says, be a lotus, which means, no matter how ugly, how evil, and how sinful everyone around you might become, do not allow yourself to be stained….
A lotus remains beautiful even as it lingers in the filthy waters of the pond….
Do not be contaminated. Do not be influenced by worthless means…. Remain radiant among the shadows of darkness.
Be a lotus. It has to start with one, to fill the pond with more.
Bata Reyes in the eyes of his peers….
By Manolo Iñigo / Inquirer
Last updated 01:43am (Mla time) 09/15/2006
Soft-spoken Efren “Bata” Reyes has persevered through adversity and now
ranks as the world’s greatest billiards player.
Just recently, he won the IPT World 8-Ball Championship in Reno, Nevada
by beating American Rodney Morris, 8-6, and pocketing $500,000, the
biggest paycheck in the history of the sport. And barely two weeks before
that, he topped the World Cup of Pool in a team-up with longtime partner
and kumpadre, Francisco “Django” Bustamante, in South Wales, Britain.
Since 1985, when Reyes, then 29, won his first tournament in the United
States — the Red’s 9-Ball Open in Houston, Texas — his impact on the
world billiards scene has been tremendous. More so now when he is already
52 years old.
“I thought he was just a local kid from the ‘Little Mexico’ area of Houston,”
recalled Red’s 9-Ball tournament director Scott Smith of Reyes, a skinny
foreigner from Manila with a scraggly moustache and a shortage of teeth
who signed up as “Carlos Morales” when he plunked down his entry fee of
$75.
Then virtually unknown, Reyes was put on a table in the back of the
cavernous hall, where few people would witness his opening match against
American Wade Crane, who also entered the tournament using a cover:
Billy Johnson. “They thought I couldn’t play,” Reyes laughed at the
recollection.
By the fourth round of the 96-player tourney, the mystery man from Manila
had made mincemeat of the opposition. Wrote Mike Panozzo of Billiards
Digest: “Reyes’ exaggerated, roller-coaster stroke, merciless safeties,
accurate jump shots and mind-bending kick shots (which earned him the
moniker “The Magician”) had the aficionados and pros alike confounded.
Who was this Morales? Where did he learn all those wild shots?”
Never before had the crop of American 9-ball players seen the likes of
Reyes. With his cover as Cesar Morales finally blown, Reyes became the
rage of the American pool scene. Crowds were always largest at the venues
where Reyes played, including many US-based Filipino supporters who
rooted for him.
Word of his skills preceded Reyes as far back as 1978. Book author John
Grissim, a world traveler from California, wrote about the Filipino cue artist
after losing a money game during a stop in Manila. Said Grissim: “He had
the smooth motion and subtle touch that characterize excellent players
everywhere, regardless of age or nationality. As I was leaving, I was told he
was the No. 2-ranked player in the Philippines (the top player then was
Jose ‘Amang’ Parica). His name was Efren Reyes.”
Back in the United States, Grissim warned leading American pros Jay Helfert
and Jimmy Rempe about players in the Philippines who would beat them
some day. “We just flat out and laughed at him,” replied Helfert. “Come
on, John, I know the best players in the Orient are the Japanese, and we’ve
seen them play. When he told us he meant the Philippines we told him he
was crazy. Now we are paying the price.”
“His (Reyes’) style was so drastically different,” said the legendary Nick
Varner, a two-time Billiards Digest Player of the Year. “He attracted a lot of
attention. And he had a big impact on the way we Americans played the
game.”
Another American player, the now retired Mike Sigel, said, “Reyes was too
intimidating given his 5-foot-7 frame. You couldn’t communicate with him,
because he speaks little English then. And his stroke and style were so
different that they scared opponents.”
Many-time world champion Earl Strickland, the flamboyant American who is
also Reyes’ arch rival, said, “I think he’s the greatest player in the world.
What else can you say? He plays you and he beats you.”
Even his Puyat Sports teammates readily acknowledge this fact. “Oh, Efren,
he’s really good, very good,” said Rodolfo “Boy Samson” Luat. “We all
learned from him.”
“I learned so much from watching him,” added Bustamante. “And after we
had played, he would show me what I did wrong. And he’d show me other
things, set up other shots to teach me something new. To me, he’s the
greatest player who ever lived.”
“Reyes is truly an inspiration, especially to the less fortunate Filipinos,” said
sports patron Aristeo “Putch” Puyat, the godfather of Philippine
billiards. “It’s nice to see a man with humble beginnings to be a source of
pride and joy to the whole nation.”
As esteemed columnist Conrado de Quiros once wrote, “Elsewhere in the
world, people now remember the Philippines only for two things — EDSA and
Bata. And I don’t know which one they hold in more awe.
As someone told me recently, mention the word "Filipino" to a taxi driver in
Europe , and he
will hold an imaginary billiard stick in his hand and say, “Bata.”
Source:
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/sports/view_article.php?article_id=21070
He came. He saw. And he was conquered by thousands of his Filipino fans.
Famous pro wrestler Dave Batista ( Dave Bautista in real life) is of Filipino descent. His father is a Filipino and his mom is Greek. He celebrates and is proud of his Filipino ancestry by having the Philippine flag tattooed on his upper left bicep. His first homecoming to Manila this September proved to be a very memorable experience for him and he left with warm memories of his sentimental "homecoming."
Read more: http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200609151614.htm
"I have no other place to go"
by Rodolfo Galuna, fisherman from Guimaras
My name is Rodolfo Galuna and I am 52 years old. I am a fisherman and live in the village of Citio Alman Sur in the south of Guimaras that was affected badly by the oil. I came here 12 years ago and built this house right on the shore. My wife Susana and I have six children, they all go to school, the eldest is in second grade high school. I have three boats. I built them myself, I need 15 days to make an outrigger boat.
12 nets I have. The biggest is 6 feet high and 300 feet long. I go fishing twice a day: from 3 o’clock in the morning until noon and from 2 pm to 5 pm. Sometimes I go as far as five miles off shore. On good days I catch more than six kilogrammes of fish, on bad days only one. I don’t sell the fish, it’s only for my family.
On friday, 12 august, I was walking down to the shore from my house when suddenly it was slippery under my feet. I looked down and saw black sludge gushing between my toes. I knew it was oil. Then I looked up and saw all the mangroves were black up to the waterline. I tried to stop the oil from coming, but it didn’t work. My whole backyard is full of oil.
Since that day I do not go fishing any more. It is very difficult for us because we have no ricefields, we have to buy the rice. I now collect wood and make charcoal and sell it. But that is not enough for my family. I don’t know what we will be living off, I will have to find something else. But I do not want to leave Guimaras, I have no other place to go.
I am angry with the oil company, but I have to go on and keep going. I am a Filipino, I am resilient, I will find a way."
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2006/08/i_dont_know_what_we_will.html
