Motoring Today Column

Mar 15, 2017

They all came swinging!

The invitation was gently firm in saying, "This is an intimate gathering of friends and close acquaintances, and so we discourage that you ask to be represented should you not be able to come."

The 6^th staging of the STV Golf Cup Invitational was again blessed with the kind of weather that's just perfect for golf last Friday, March 10 at the Riviera Golf and Country Club in Silang, Cavite.

What started as a great idea 5 years ago to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Motoring Today, the longest running motoring TV program in the country and indeed one of the longest running TV shows in the history of Philippine television has developed into an institutional event of the local auto industry.

Some of the top executives seen merrily swinging their clubs include Mr. Hajime Koso, president of Isuzu Philippines, Mr. Willy Tee Ten, chairman & ceo of Auto Hub, Mr. Danny "Sir John" Isla, the first and immediate past president of Lexus-Manila, joined by Mr. Raymond Rodriguez, newly designated Lexus-Manila president,Mr. George Chua, president of BAIC,Mr. Mark Tieng, managing director of BYD andMr. Dave Macasadia, managing director of Ssangyong Philippines.

Some also came not to play but just to show support like the lovely president of BMW Philippines,Ms. Maricar Parco, the CFO of the Alvarez Group, Mr. Bobby Rosales and also Ms. Minnie Valencia-Bautista, the top-notched and very charming Ford Philippines marketing head.

The motoring media came with remarkable putts of their own in the greens, such as, Dante Ang, Jr. ofManila Times,Al "Sir Paul" Mendoza of Business-Mirror, Deo Macalma of DZRH, Ron delos Reyes ofAuto Review, Arnel Doria, former Volkswagen Philippines marketing head and now with DWIZ, Brent Co of Autoindustriya.com and Jeff Reyes of Top Gear.

Here are this year's winners:

WINNERS	NAME
OVERALL NET CHAMPION	WILLY TEE TEN (AUTO HUB GROUP)
CLASS A
CHAMPION	ALEX DANDAN (MELO KONSTRUKT)
1^ST RUNNER-UP	BONI PIMENTEL (ILUSTRADO)
2^ND RUNNER-UP	RYAN LORENZO (FORD)
CLASS B
CHAMPION	ERLO TENEDERO (ISUZU ALABANG)
1^ST RUNNER-UP	DANNY ISLA (LEXUS)
2^ND RUNNER-UP	ERIC DE LEON (DAVIES)
CLASS C
CHAMPION	RICO MACALINTAL (TATA MOTORS)
1^ST RUNNER-UP	ART BALMADRID (TATA MOTORS)
2^ND RUNNER-UP	VIVIAN CHUA (BAIC)

FUN AWARDS

LONGEST DRIVE

HOLE NO. 2 (237 YARDS)

BOBBY SHAW

(AUTO NATION GROUP)

NEAREST TO THE PIN

HOLE NO. 6 (8 FT & 4 INCHES)

TEY SORNET

(LICA AUTO)

MOST ACCURATE DRIVE

HOLE NO. 15 (ON THE LINE)

RENE SO

(TOYOTA PANGASINAN)

LONGEST PUTT

HOLE NO. 17 (5 FT & 6 INCHES)

JOHNNY FETALVERO

(HONDA CARS KALOOKAN)

This event was first staged in 2012 and hosting a fun golf tournament was conceived as a gesture of giving back to all those in the auto industry and close friends who have been supporting STV programs and events.

This year, STV's flagship TV show, Motoring Today celebrates its 30^th anniversary marking 3 decades of friendship to many of those in the motoring industry.

No golf tournament ever ends without a raffle of sorts and the STV Golf Cup Invitational has established a tradition of raffling off giveaways of any kind from participating companies. The only catch is one cannot win a prize that he or his company donates-and that was a lot of fun.

Another tradition that I started in 2015 when I just had an angioplasty was to raffle off slabs of Angus beef as grand prize-and the guys look forward to it.

It was a Friday when we held the tournament, a working day. And many were heard saying on their way to the showers coming from their game, "A bad day at the golf course is always better than a good day in the office." See you again next year, guys!

Happy Motoring!!!

For comments & inquiries (email) sunshine.television@yahoo.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ray Butch Gamboa graduated from the College of Arts and Letters of the University of Sto. Tomas. It was a course that should have been preparatory to a law degree, but the call of broadcasting aborted his plans.

At the age of 16, while still a student, Butch tried his hand at disc jockeying, landing a job at Mareco Broadcasting Network’s AM stations DZBM and DZLM. From there, Butch moved on with his illustrious career as a popular disc jockey, riding the airwaves of Bob Stewart’s middle-of-the-road music at DZXX, and ending his disc jockeying career at ABS-CBN’s DZYL and DZQL.

From there, he stayed on with ABS-CBN, covering live the proceedings at the Manila Stock Exchange and eventually entered into the world of television sales as an account manager for the premier channel of ABS-CBN Channel 2.

In the early 70’s, at the outbreak of Martial Law, Butch was one of the thousands of professionals who woke up jobless when then President Marcos declared the new status of the nation. With the closure of ABS-CBN, Butch ventured into different fields outside of broadcast. He tried his hand and with ease and success at export (Costume jewelry), real estate (brokerage), and restaurants (fast food).

In 1987, after the revolution, with the broadcast industry back to its free state, and with its irresistible call ringing in his ears, Butch made his inevitable comeback and pioneered in a local motoring show, producing Motoring Today on Channel 4 and co-hosting with local motor sports’ living legend Pocholo Ramirez.

After 4 years, he ventured into another pioneering format by producing and hosting Business & Leisure, which was originally aired on ABS-CBN’s Channel 2. The format eventually espoused similar ones in other different channels. But the clones in due course faded away leaving the original staying on airing on Channel 4 and eventually on Shop TV on Sky Cable’s Channel 13.

The following year, the pioneering spirit in Butch spurred him to produce another TV show, Race Weekend, also on Channel 4, covering circuit racing at the Subic International Raceway after the motor sport’s hiatus of 17 years. But when similar shows with duplicated formats sprouted, he decided to give way and ended the program after a year, although still enjoying unparalleled viewership.

In 1998, when the local automotive industry was in a slump, Butch contributed his share to help the ailing industry by producing another popular motoring-related show, this time exclusive to the automobile and its industry—Auto Focus, which became a vehicle for local automotive assemblers and importers to showcase their products and dwell on the industry’s latest technological developments.

In 2003, Butch teamed up with his brother, Rey Gamboa who was a former Shell executive and presently one Philippine Star’s business columnist to co-produce and co-host the TV show Breaking Barriers on Channel 13. It is a talk show that features guests who are in the news and in the middle of controversies. The program ventures to draw deeper insights into current issues to learn how they impact to our daily lives.

Today, Motoring Today on its 28th year of service to the general motoring public still enjoys its unprecedented loyal vierwership nationwide while Auto Focus, after 16 years has firmly established its niche viewership among automobile enthusiasts and on the other hand Business & Leisure is on its 24th year dishing out current business issues and lifestyle features.

Today, aside from writing weekly columns for the Philippine Star (Motoring Today on Wednesdays and Business & Leisure on Saturdays) and executive producer / host of weekly TV shows (Motoring Today, airs Sundays on Solar Sports Channel 70, Business & Leisure, airs Tuesdays on Shop TV, Sky Cable Channel 13 and Auto Focus airs Thursdays on Shop TV, Sky Cable Channel 13, Ray Butch Gamboa is currently the Chairman and CEO of Sunshine Television Production and Marketing Services Corp., President of Gamcor Management and Development Corp., Chairman of Asia-Pacific Realty Corporation, President and Chairman of Socio-Communication Foundation for Asia and Founding Chairman of the Society of Phil. Motoring Journalists (SPMJ)