Move
Mention the northern town of Liloan and several things come to mind. There’s the iconic 113-year Titay’s, the budbud and masi, and in the Pre-CoVid days, the weekend street food stalls at the town plaza. It’s the only town in Cebu with two lighthouses, the 1903-built Bagacay Point Lighthouse and the recently built replica on the national highway in between the Municipal Hall and the Parish Church, where a huge acacia tree used to stand.
Liloan had produced athletes who were successful in their chosen sports. In the 1950s, there was Leodegario Pilones who played for the Letran Knights and was teammates with Lauro Mumar. A nephew, Salvador Ramas, played for the 1978 gold-winning PH Youth Team to the ABC Championships and the 1979 World Junior Championships in Brazil who turned pro playing for San Miguel.
Volleyball had Cebu Hall of Famers Maria Chona Jao – San Juan and Maria Lourdes Jao - Ramirez. There was PH team members Jonrey Sasing, Jade Becaldo and of late, the Taneo brothers, Relan and Rey Jr. A younger brother of the Jao twins, Peter, also donned the PH colors in basketball and later turned pro. Newest among the town’s sports notables is Mr. Atin ‘To, Paul Desiderio.
The town also produced beauty queens with Pilar Pilapil as the most famous and were followed by equally talented and pretty ladies, among them close friend Malu Pilapil – Michael. Another beauty queen is making waves lately and is promoting her advocacy of a healthy lifestyle thru sports with her MOVE campaign.
Katherine Dimataga Jumapao, crowned as 2018 AAA Renaissance Cebuana, is a multi-sport athlete who played for USC’s basketball and volleyball teams. As if that’s not enough, she’s also into triathlon.
Kat has good genes as mother Marlene also was into beauty contests in her heydays and father Cocoy was one of the more popular town athletes. It was during one of those beauty pageants that Cocoy scored a slam dunk with Marlene.
The pandemic has made most of us “inmates” and getting active is kind of complicated with all the imposed restrictions, especially now that we’re back to square one. Kat’s idea encourages everyone to have a positive mindset despite the present situation to keep our physical and mental health in top form.
Jump starting the movement in her hometown, Kat coordinated with youth leaders, local athletes, coaches, fitness buffs and fellow beauty queens in promoting her advocacy. So far, more than 300 custom-made MOVE jerseys had been distributed which she hopes to inspire recipients to be active. Activities are supposed to be monthly but because of the on-going quarantine restrictions, plans are on hold.
Don’t let isolation lock you down because if you don’t move, MO-bitay imong VE-Lvel. Kat, now you have your acronym.
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