Jon Ordonio gives back double

Retired Fil-Am point guard Jon Ordonio can’t help but be proud of his sons Kobe and Tahjae. For the past few years, the PBA veteran has been preparing them for the opportunity to play for the national team and the pros. The 6’2” guard launched his PBA career with Pop Cola in 1999, boasting of a prodigious 40-inch vertical leap and a great attitude. His rookie season, he averaged a high of 7.5 points per game, but did all the things you don’t see on a stat sheet: set screens, defend hard, dive for loose balls and fight for 50-50 rebounds against much bigger foes. After six years, he was inexplicably placed on a government in watchlist (even though he is Filipino, as his maternal grandfather is from La Union), and had to leave the country with his two little boys. Since then, they have grown into formidable young players.

“Kobe and Tahjae were born there (the Philippines) when I was out there, so there shouldn’t be an issue with their citizenship,” Ordonio explained. “They will be ready for whatever comes their way! The national team is a big possibility.”

The 6’1” Kobe just finished his freshman season at Cabrillo College, a junior college in Aptos, California, while the 6’3”, long-haired Tahjae finished his junior season at Monterey High School strong, picking up where his older brother left off. The previous season – Kobe’s last – was the first time in school history they became champion in the Central Coast Section (CCS), which includes schools from the Bay Area.

At Cabrillo, Kobe and his teammates had to play top-seeded and eventual champion San Francisco City College in the Regional Finals game. Though Cabrillo lost by 17, Kobe had a spectacular game, finishing with 26 points. In the three times Cabrillo had to play San Francisco City this season, Kobe averaged 23 points against the number one team in the state. 

Cabrillo ended up as Conference Champions also, starting the conference off 0-2 before going on a seven-game winning streak. Kobe was in the top 10 in the conference in three offensive categories. The tough guard was sixth in scoring with 15.1 ppg, fourth in assists at 5.1 apg, and led the conference in three-pointers made with 36. He was also voted Honorable Mention for his conference as a freshman. More importantly, his performance put him on the radar of big colleges in the US. Jon continues to send out links to his sons’ highlight reels to help them get more attention.

Despite having a more challenging road, Tahjae has risen to a position of leadership at Monterey, where his father also went to high school.

“Tahjae’ ended up having a great junior year. We had a tougher schedule this year due to the success we had last year being CCS champions,” the 41-year old Jon revealed. “Four of the five starters are juniors and they’re known as the Fab 4 now. We really didn’t have a bench all year and in the playoffs, the Fab 4 rarely came out of the game.”

Monterey ended up second in league play, and was the fourth seed in the Division III CCS playoffs. In league, Tahjae averaged over 13 ppg, then turned it up in the playoffs. In the four playoff games, he averaged 17.6 ppg, and scored 22 points to help beat the number one Sacred Heart Cathedral in the semifinals. Monterey ended up losing a close game to Archbishop Riordan, a Catholic school, in the CCS Championship. They were still adjusting to the lack of a true point guard after Kobe graduated. To Ordonio’s knowledge, Monterey is the first public school in the Monterey Peninsula to go to the State tournament two years in a row. Tahjae was First Team All League and was also part of the All County team.

“It’s still not fair for public schools to play these private schools in the playoffs,” he says. “They are allowed to recruit, they have better facilities and trainers and they also have a lot of assistant coaches. As far as the public schools are concerned, you get what you get. That is why not too many public schools make it far, because you have to deal with what you get with kids. But the Fab 4 will be seniors next year, and colleges are looking at Tahjae already.”

Jon Ordonio has made a new life for himself and his sons, and has been preparing them for a return to the land of their birth, either as possible members of Gilas Pilipinas, or future PBA players like him, giving back to the motherland he was unjustly forced to leave.