Fil-Am skater, partner make history for PH in world ice figure skating

by Charmaine rodriguez Inquirer.net

A FILIPINA American figure skater and her partner made history as the first pair from the Philippines and Southeast Asia to qualify for the world championships this year.

Although they finished 18th among the 20 pairs who competed in the 2023 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Saitama, Japan, it was no small feat for the team of Isabella Gamez and Alexander Korovin who had to work hard and win in smaller competitions to secure a spot in the prestigious competition.

For a tropical country like the Philippines, qualifying in skating or any other winter sports will always be one for the books.

The last time the Philippines sent a competitor to the World Championships was back in 2017 with Michael Martinez.

Filipinos in Canada might have a chance to wave the Philippine flag for the first time and support the duo next year when Montreal hosts the world figure skating championships again.

The ISU World Figure Skating Championships is an annual event that moves around the globe, attracting more than 300 million television viewers worldwide and showcasing the 200 best athletes from 50 countries in four disciplines: men, women, pair and ice dance, its website reads.

The 2024 World Championships will mark Canada’s 11th time hosting, and a second for Montreal.

Montreal last hosted the Championships in 1932, the very first time Canada hosted the event. Canada last hosted the event in London, Ontario, in 2013, it added.

But this is not the first that the Florida-born Gamez will be in Canada.

In 2017, she moved to Montreal for her training and her new coaches hooked her up with Spanish skater Tón Cònsul, according to Myles A. Garcia in PositivelyFilipino. com.

“Because of her family’s Fil-Hispanic connections, it was easy enough to switch and skate with Cònsul for Spain. At the 2018 Junior World Championships, the young Spanish-Filipino pair finished in 13th place. Cònsul, however, quickly decided to retire from competitive skating thereafter. Having spent time and vacations with family in the Philippines, Isabella always knew that she wanted to skate for her parents’ country— but how and when could it happen?” Garcia writes.

According to Rappler, Gamez eventually partnered with Canadian David-Alexandre Paradis, where they competed in the 2020 Four Continents Championships.

However, the two went their separate ways at the conclusion of the season due to the pandemic and subsequent retirement of Paradis.

It was only in 2021 with Korovin paired up with Gamez but could not compete since he still represented Russia and had to wait for the ISU’s go signal. He is also currently applying for a Filipino citizenship.

“Together, we both had different techniques coming from that he has a very strong European-Russian technique, and I had a very bold North American technique which we had to find a common ground,” Gamez told Rappler.

MANILA — The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR) further increased over the past week, according to monitoring conducted by the OCTA Research group.

Citing data from the Department of Health, OCTA fellow Guido David said the region’s seven-day positivity rate increased from 7.3 percent on April 16 to 10.6 percent on April 23.

The positivity rate measures the percentage of positive results out of the total number of RT-PCR tests conducted.

The World Health Organization recommends a positivity rate of five percent or below to effectively manage the pandemic.

As of Monday, April 24, David said the nationwide positivity rate is at 10 percent. In a post on his Twitter account, he noted that the NCR has an average of only 3,120 RT-PCR tests per day, down from around 11,000 in April 2022.

Official government data only take into account RT-PCR tests and not the antigen tests that have become a common way of testing for COVID-19 infection.

While this means that cases could be higher than the official count, David earlier said that looking at positivity rates and other indicators could still show trends in the number of cases.

Over the past weeks, positivity rates in various areas have seen a steady rise.

On Monday, the DOH reported 429 new cases, with 180 in NCR. He said the positivity rate in the region is on track to hit 15 percent before possibly plateauing by mid-May.

Hospital occupancy remained low at 21 percent.

QC still ‘low risk’

While the number of new cases has slightly increased, the

Quezon City government said the city remains at low risk for COVID-19.

Citing an assessment from OCTA Research, the city government said the number of average daily new cases increased from 17 last week to 22 this week.

The positivity rate, meanwhile, increased from 5.9 percent to 8.3 percent.

“The city remains at low risk level,” it said in an advisory in Filipino. “But the local government continues to remind everyone to stay safe and follow minimum health protocols to protect yourself from the virus and other contagious diseases.”

The city government said it has administered over 6.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines. A total of 2.6 million adults and minors are considered fully vaccinated, while almost 1.6 million first and second booster doses have been administered. n

“We really took the time for those two years to meet in the middle for our skating and we really wanted, we really had to be patient for our techniques so that is where we are standing,” she continued. We still have a lot to learn from each other especially that this was our first competition competing together and we had to understand each other’s nerves and emotions and what we’re like, she added.

In October 2022, the skating pair gave the Philippines its first medal in international figure skating — a second place finish at the 2022 Trophée Métropole Nice Côte d’Azur in France.

Born to Gerardo Gamez and Marivic Ramirez, who were both born and raised in the Philippines, Gamez was not shortchanged of Filipino culture and heritage. Her mother is also related to Filipino sports icon Freddie Webb.

Philippine mall developer, SM Supermalls, is one of the pair’s sponsors. The pair aims to qualify for the Winter Olympics happening in 2026 in Milano, Cortina.

“We would like to congratulate our homegrown talents who have all glided their way to the world championships. These two major wins are definitely one for the books as once again, we will be able to show the world how talented Filipino skaters are. And we at SM Supermalls will always be proud that you have brought pride to the country,” said Joseph V. Silva, AVP for Operations for SM Lifestyle Inc. Sports & Leisure Centers, when the pair won inthe Challenge Cup held in Tilburg, Netherlands on February 26, 2023. n

THE Philippine National Police changed leadership on Monday, April 24 amid an ongoing purge targeting officers linked to drug trafficking. Gen. Rodolfo Azurin bowed out of the PNP just days after finding himself entangled in controversy over a raid that yielded 990 kilos of shabu, of which 42 kilos were allegedly pilfered by the police raiders.

The PNP also continues to face unresolved accusations of serious abuses in the so-called war on drugs waged by the previous administration. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr., the new PNP chief, will have to carry out the preferred approach of the Marcos administration to the drug scourge, which is less bloody and does not openly encourage police to shoot first and ask questions later.

with reports of simmering unrest over a proposal to cut and overhaul the retirement pensions and benefits of military, police and other uniformed personnel. President Marcos, for his part, reportedly instructed Acorda to exercise maximum tolerance in dealing with government critics.

Acorda, a native of Ilocos Norte who reaches the retirement age of 56 this December, will also have to allay public concerns about a seeming deterioration of peace and order amid a string of brazen assassinations targeting mostly politicians and, in one daring attack in Metro Manila, a broadcaster. An encouraging aspect is that perpetrators have been arrested or identified in several of the cases including the murders of Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and radio commentator Percy Lapid. But much more is needed to end the impunity in committing murder in this country.

Within the PNP, Acorda will also have to deal

BaBE romualdEz

THE announcement that U.S.

President Joe Biden will be hosting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House during their bilateral meeting on May 1 definitely underscores the special friendship and the ever-strengthening ties between the United States and the Philippines.

President Marcos will be bringing key Cabinet members who will engage with their counterparts to cover many aspects of the bilateral relations between our two countries.

As Malacañang put it, this allimportant visit to the U.S. will “substantively progress efforts to further deepen relations and political ties, to bring about lasting socio-economic partnerships, as well as to enhance defense and security cooperation.”

The bilateral meeting between President Marcos and President Biden will also reaffirm the ironclad commitment of the United States to the defense of the Philippines, with the discussion expected to touch on how the two nations can further deepen economic cooperation,

Acorda, whose last posting was as PNP intelligence chief, is aware of the long festering problems in the police organization. Since its creation, the PNP has become tainted by scandals linking its members including former PNP chiefs to large-scale corruption. Lower ranking cops, meanwhile, have been implicated in a wide range of criminal activities including protection rackets and murders related to e-sabong, jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling.

Housecleaning is a constant challenge within the PNP, even as it carries out its principal mandate of keeping the public safe. These are best carried out with public trust and confidence in the PNP, from its chief down to the new recruits. (Philstar.com)