One of the highlights of the celebration was the holding of several sports activities, which culminated in a Fistorama fight card last Saturday at the Provincial Capitol grounds in Cagayan de Oro City.

Fistorama happens to be the longest-running television boxing show in the Philippines, having been started by my late lamented colleague, the irrepressible Joe Cantada and the immortal Taby Tabaniag back in the 60’s. It has since been revived by Joe’s younger brother Edgardo "Boy" Cantada, who is the producer-promoter of the show, and former amateur golf standout, now much sought-after teaching pro Gerard, the executive producer. Fistorama airs Sunday afternoons over RPN-9. I have been fortunate to be the anchorman of the show ever since it’s return.

For the second straight year, we have brought the Fistorama fight card to Misamis Oriental on the invitation of their soft-spoken but highly respected and articulate governor, Oscar Moreno. Many would remember him as the low-key but very effective prosecutor who painstakingly unraveled the long and intricate paper trail of bank transactions involving a beleaguered President during the impeachment proceedings of 2001.

Then Rep. Moreno impressed many for his cool demeanor in the face of probing questions from Chief Justice Hilario Davide and the booby traps laid down by sympathizers of the former Chief Executive in the Impeachment Court. Moreno was unfazed and competently parried all the questions posed to him with authority, while maintaining his reverence for the institution and the positions of the senator-judges.

Although a lawyer by training (San Beda College of Law), Moreno spent most of his professional life in the banking industry. He held sensitive positions in prestigious firms as the Far East Bank and Trust Company, Bank of the Philippine Islands and Citibank, locally and in Hong Kong and New York. He capped his stint in the private sector as an executive for the Ayala Corporation before plunging into politics.

An avid sports fan, Gov. Moreno keeps fit by playing basketball weekly with a group of colleagues in the provincial government. Folks say he is a mean defensive player who can also light it up with daring drives to the basket.

He has crafted a sports development plan for his province of 24 towns and one city (Gingoog) with the help of his long-time friend from his Far East Bank days, former basketball star and ex-PBL Deputy Commissioner Val Rosabal (UST Glowing Goldies, Yco Painters, Ysmael Steel). Rosabal is a native of Talisayan town, MisOr. Moreno hails from Balingasag town.

For this year’s sports activities, aside from the nine exciting matches of Fistorama. Gov. Moreno also showcased some of the province’s amateur boxers who started training barely a year ago under the watchful eyes of 1990 Asian Games gold medalist Roberto Jalnaiz, a Boholano who migrated as a youngster to MisOr. Moreno and Rosabal made representations with Jalnaiz’s superiors in the Philippine Army for the latter to be detailed in his home province so he could oversee the development of amateur boxing there.

From a ragtag group of seven amateurs, Jalnaiz’s wards have grown to over 50 enthusiastic simonpures. Gov. Moreno credits Jalnaiz for bringing home 3 golds and a silver in a recent regional meet in Mindanao where they fielded seven entries.

Misamis Oriental also supports the "Govs for Gold" program for professional boxers initiated by North Cotabato Gov. Manny Piñol. Moreno is also excited about the prospect of his province producing superstars in the mold of Manny Pacquiao. Not that MisOr has not had its share of boxing icons, because aside from Jalnaiz, Rene Barrientos, former WBC world junior lightweight champion, is also a resident of Cagayan de Oro City. We will write more about Barrientos and his colorful story in a future column.

It was indeed an enjoyable if much too short a trip, marked by the thrill of exciting boxing matches, good food and the hospitality of the people. A testament to this was when there was a mix-up and only the vehicle of Gov. Moreno was available to transport about eight of us to our lunch destination.

The governor insisted that the Fistorama party take his vehicle while he himself flagged a passing cab and took it along with one of his staffers. The entire party was shocked, but Rosabal and the driver told us, that wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. Moreno has been known to take a "motorella", their version of the tricycle, whenever his vehicle is borrowed by other provincial officials and constituents (which is also very frequent). Whatta guy!

Indeed, Moreno is a one-of-a-kind public official, which moved me to remark to a local media man that many people were upset with Misamis Oriental for snatching Moreno from the national scene. To which my brother-in-trade quipped: "Go look for your own Moreno."

In the play "Henry VI," the bard wrote one of his oft-quoted lines: "First thing we do, we kill all the lawyers."

Let’s spare this one, Bill.