At home in Ibajay
BY ARMAN ARMERO

FROM Feb. 25 to March 5, a little less than a hundred varsity players, coaches and school officials made Ibajay, a third-class municipality in Aklan, their home away from home.
They were there to play ball and vie for the 61st National Inter-Collegiate Basketball Championship diadem, perhaps the oldest collegiate basketball competition this side of the Pacific, organized by the Basketball Association of the Philippines, the country’s 70-year-old basketball organization, in cooperation with the municipal government of Ibajay.
There were eight teams in all - National Capital Region’s AMA Computer University, Southern Luzon’s Enverga University, Cordillera Autonomous Region’s University of Baguio, Central Luzon’s Angeles University Foundation, Region 9’s Immaculate Conception Archdiocesan School, Caraga’s St. Vincent de Paul’s College and host schools Northern Visayas College and Aklan Polytechnic University.
The players came by boat, by land and by air, lured by the possibility of making a side trip to the world-class resort of nearby Boracay Island and a chance to pit their basketball skills against the best players from other regions.
They were prepared for all that. But what surprised them was how the Ibajayanons welcomed them in their hearts.
Ibajay did not only lay the welcome mat. It took out the red carpet for a grand welcome fit for royalties. The Ibajayanons did not only feed them, they accepted them in their homes with open arms.
Third-class municipality, world-class hospitality
The competition was heated from start to finish, but it failed to match the warmth of the Ibajayanons’ welcome.
Mayor Roberto Garcia, Ibajay’s hands-on chief executive, led his officials and his constituents in giving the visitors a memorable welcome. The opening ceremony, though simple, spoke of Ibajay’s innate charm.
Organizers whipped up a memorable opening ceremony, highlighted by spirited performances from the municipality’s various Ati-Atihan groups, which tried to outdo each other to the crowd’s delight.
Garcia’s charming wife Mabeth, Vice Mayor Nelson Santamaria, municipal officers and all 36 barangay chairmen came in full force, signifying Ibajay’s unity and cooperation.
And as the delegations trickled in, the Ibajayanons opened their hearts and their homes.
There are no hotels or inns in Ibajay, but there are enough homes—and open hearts—to accommodate the visiting players and officials. And so each team was adopted by a wealthy resident of Ibajay and so were the officials.
The accommodation, a far cry from the usual “accommodations” in past inter-collegiate tournaments, where players were housed in elementary schools, lived up to Ibajay’s name. The visitors were not only given temporary homes, they were pampered, cared for, feted and welcomed like never before.
Graham Lim, secretary-general of the organizing BAP, summed it when he said, “this is the best inter-collegiate tournament in terms of warmth and hospitality. The Ibajayanons clearly outdid themselves in welcoming the delegates.”
But Garcia, ever a humble public servant, returned the appreciation by saying “Ibajay is honored to be chosen as a venue for this very important national event.”
Great Danes’ great victory
When the smoke of battle cleared, it was the Great Danes of Angeles University Foundation, who emerged victorious against the Titans of Amacu, the crowd favorite.
AUF won with plenty to spare, 87-81, for its first-ever national title. Coached by two former Far Eastern University Tamaraws in Eric Gascon and Ronald Padaong, the Great Danes outplayed coach Bong Garcia’s Titans en route to the championship.
Anthony Mallari of AUF was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while his teammate, Matthew Carney, was adjudged as Best Player of the finals.
The Titans, who came without three key players, were comforted by the thought that the people wanted them to win, perhaps because their coach Boni Garcia, is considered a son of Ibajay, having played many games in this municipality as an import during his playing years.
But clearly, the biggest winner was the people of Ibajay, who packed the municipal gym to the rafters in perhaps one of the biggest crowds to ever watch a national championship in the history of the National Students’ Basketball Championships.
The crowd enjoyed every action on the floor, shouted their voices hoarse, and in the end, celebrated with the winners and mourned with the losers.
The officiating, to say the least, was satisfactory, thanks to the supervision of Panay Island Basketball Association commissioner Romel Polido and the guidance of Rev. Fr. Geoffrey Jimenez, BAP’s provincial commissioner and the officiating officials, both national and local.
Boracay a bonus
When the tournament officially ended, the players made a beeline to nearby Boracay, which is only an hour away from Ibajay. There, they washed away their aching muscles and whiled away the time as they prepared to go back to their destinations.
But Boracay, even at its grandest moment, was only a bonus to the “paradise in seclusion” that is the Ibajay town, whose passion for basketball and warm hospitality were truly world class.