Jaja Santiago doing great in Japan stint

MANILA, Philippines – Her Japanese stint may be over, but Dindin Manabat is still overflowing with pride over the achievement of her younger sister, Jaja Santiago.

Manabat said Santiago continues to make waves in the prestigious V.Premier Women’s League in Japan, and that she’s ready to conquer the world at such a tender age of 23.

Arguably the best Filipino volleyball player to play in foreign soil, Santiago is making her presence felt for Ageo Medics in the Japanese league.

Although the squad finished the regular season at sixth place with an 11-9 win-loss mark it still advanced to the Final Eight but has yet to win in three games.

She is also seeing quality minutes of action as she fired 13 kills and three blocks to finish with 16 points in Ageo Medics’ most recent match against Hitachi Rivale.

Her exploits made Manabat very proud.

“At her age of 23, with the way she’s being used by her team, I’m so proud of her,” said Manabat, who campaigned for Toray Arrows.

“Some of the imports started competing abroad at 25, 26 or 27 years old. But Jaja is much younger than them. There are still a lot of teams who will avail of her services — not just in Japan.”

Globetrotting appears to be written on Santiago’s stars.

Before entering college, she was given a scholarship offer by University of California-Los Angeles to make her eligible to play for in the Division I of the US NCAA.

But she politely declined the offer and went on to power National University in the UAAP.

Now that she’s already done with college, Manabat believes that the world is on her sister’s hands.

“All I can say is that I’m really proud of her,” said Santiago, who arrived Friday to resume her Philippine Superliga career.

“I’ll be proud of her wherever she goes — be it in Europe, Korea or China. This is a rare chance for a Filipino so she has to make the best of it.”