D-Day is here!

Today is D-Day or Delivery Day. We’ll deliver the prizes to the 20 winners of our Christmas Contest at 11 this morning in The Philippine Star office in Port Area, Manila. The response to our contest was overwhelming. Thousands of entries poured in via social media and some were even sent to The Star office by courier.

We announced the contest in this column last Dec. 7 and set a deadline of 5 p.m., Friday, Dec. 15, to send entries. Believe it or not, we continued to receive entries by email up to last Sunday. Of course, late entries were disqualified.

The contest wouldn’t be possible without the support of our generous sponsors, benefactors and donors. We raised a total of P120,000 in cash from the Philippine Sports Commission through chairman Butch Ramirez with P50,000, Kia Picanto through PBA governor Bobby Rosales with P20,000, NLEX through PBA governor Rod Franco with P20,000, The Herma Group through CEO Hermie Esguerra with P15,000, GlobalPort through PBA governor Erick Arejola with P10,000 and the Games and Amusements Board through chairman Baham Mitra with P5,000. The first prize winner will receive P50,000 while P20,000 will go to the second prize winner and P10,000 to the third. The other 17 winners will take home P2,000 each so everybody gets cash. The balance of P6,000 was set aside to cover expenses, like loot bags and transportation for pick-ups and whatever is left will be distributed to the staff that coordinated the contest.

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Aside from cash, we received donations from Phoenix Petroleum (15 gift bags with NBA sports bottles, desk calendars and leather cable organizer straps), Meralco (20 umbrellas, 10 water bottles, 10 pouch bags), Purefoods (25 T-shirts), Under Armour (8 shorts, leggings, singlets, shirts), Planet Sports (3 Jordan backpacks, 1 Damian Lillard cap, 1 Nike Air cap), The Philippine Star (20 T-shirts), Sonak Corp. (21 Molten basketballs), Nike Philippines (5 pairs of shoes, 20 assorted garments, 10 sets of 3-pack socks), ALA Boxing Gym (1 boxing headgear, 1 pair blue 14-ounce boxing gloves, 1 pair training gloves, 1 red headband, 2 jackets, 3 Akiyah Renewal Skincare products, 4 bottles Akiyah Renewal lotion, 27 assorted T-shirts), Peak (20 basketball sliders).

Philippine Paralympic Committee through president Mike Barredo (5 water bottles, 2 sets-of-5 face small towels, 2 sets-of-4 face medium towels), Rain Or Shine (24 T-shirts, 24 umbrellas), Philippine Tennis Academy through Rommie Chan (10 boxes of Vita Coco), Chooks To Go (25 Gilas basketballs, 25 Gilas T-shirts, 30 gift certificates), Green Bulb Public Relations (4 Adidas bags), Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas (10 Molten GR7 basketballs), Philippine Basketball Association (3 Espresso Bluetooth speakers, 3 Deli Chef personal blenders, 12 shirts, 5 PBA Annual 2014, 5 PBA Annual 2015).

Alaska (10 T-shirts, 10 basketballs), PLDT (3 backpacks), Metro Pacific (1 bottle of wine, 3 gift boxes, 3 carry-on bags), Meralco (2 portable cookers, 2 water heating kettles), NLEX (20 books “Legends and Heroes of Philippine Basketball”), San Miguel Corp. (20 packs of groceries), Larc and Asset (10 cloud fans, 10 pillows, 10 notebooks, 14 Sprite caps, 5 One Championship T-shirts), San Miguel Beer (10 T-shirts, 10 caps, 2 cases of beer), Barangay Ginebra (10 caps, 10 T-shirts, 12 bottles of Primera Light brandy) and Ever Bilena (24 Calcident toothpaste, 12 T-shirts, 24 Blackwater soap for men, 12 Advance Uncover eye-shadow sets, 12 Blackwater deodorant spray, 12 Blackwater deodorant spray for women, 24 Blackwater whitening soap for women) and Gatorade (5 towels, 4 T-shirts, 5 green sports bottles with orange caps, 3 Active vacuum flasks, 2 bags).

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Our 20 winners are Jose Monje Quadra, Jr., Joe Louis Lahom, Arnold Liwanag, Lyndeen Deloria, Ronee San Agustin, Cesar Inocencio, Luisito Vallo, Robert Santiago, Timothy Agduma, Rogelio de las Alas, John Noel Correos, Danilo Animas, Yolanda Palomado, Ivan Jose, Gary Villamero, Francisco Sergio, Christopher Manuel, Leonard Aran, Christopher Cardenas and Juan Veran. The list of winners with their personal details was initially published in this column last Tuesday.

The essays of the first three winners were featured in this column yesterday. Here’s the essay from fourth place winner Lyndeen Deloria, 44, environmental planner of Emilio Jacinto St., New Capitol Estates, Batasan Hills, Q. C.: “Like the Angat Dam for hydroelectric, Palinpinon for geothermal and Bangui Wind Farm for wind energy, there are untapped Filipino athletes in the countryside, full of potential that can be harnessed to compete for the country in various international sports events. This, I would like to believe, coupled with strong support from our sports patrons in the private sector and an effective and efficient system for the development of a grassroots program where homegrown athletes will be trained can be a major step in the right direction. An indelible and stable alternative to the prevailing cosmetic measure of hastily forming national teams for international competitions.”

From fifth place winner Ronee San Agustin, 53, La Salle employee, of No. 99 Barangay Dila, Sta. Rosa, Laguna: “Disunity among sports officials, lack of foresight and planning, lack of support from the government and overstaying sports leaders who blame athletes but not themselves for every debacle year after year are some of the reasons that ail Philippine sports. We need young, honest, dedicated and knowledgeable officials who are passionate about sports in order for us to be at least the best in our region. Better sports infrastructure that is administered and maintained well for the athletes training will also help in the improvement of Philippine sports.

To our 20 winners, congratulations and please claim your prizes at The Star office this morning. To our sponsors, benefactors and donors, many thanks for your kindness and generosity. May the Lord bless you and yours.