Ang Kalatas Volume V June 2015 Independence Day Special Edition | Page 30

Flashback: 2003 PAL Kalayaan Cup

‘Kalayaan Cup’
A Pinoy golf event that continues to grow twenty years on …
THE

20th Annual PAL Kalayaan Cup Golf tournament celebrating the 117th
anniversary of the proclamation of Philippine Independence will be held on
June 8 at the prestigious Macquarie Links International Golf Club.

By Ric De Vera
PARTICIPANTS are mainly from the Filipino-Australian
golfing community along with other Asian countries
such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and
Myanmar, aside from our golfing friends from Fiji, Samoa,
New Zealand and Australia.
This is the only golf tournament where authentic
Filipino food such as pork adobo, beef caldereta and
chicken curry are served during the awards presentation
and buffet lunch.
The Kalayaan cup started as a mini golf tournament
in June 1996 called the Philippine Independence Day
Cup by Fil-oz Social golf club president Donald Lopez. It
was held at Dunheved Golf Club with around 30 member
participants and a nominal prize of golf balls and
trophies. The first winner was Dazel Domanillo.
The following year it was held at the same venue but
this time with more participants. The major prize for the
champion was return airfare to Manila flying Philippine
Airlines, partly sponsored by Allied-Summa Travel & Tours
Pty Ltd, and won by then Fil-Oz founding President,
Donald Lopez.
In 1998, during the centennial of the Philippine
Independence, the tournament was held at the
Bankstown Golf & Country Club with the able

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chairmanship of then Philippine Trade Commissioner
Manny Tayas. Participants now reached more than 100
golfers, mainly from Fil-Oz and other Filipino-Australian
social golf clubs, as well as golfers from other Asian
diplomatic posts in Sydney. The champion was Jun
Doculara of Fairfield, who received a monumental trophy
and cash prize.
In the next two years (1999-2000) the tournament
was held at the Penrith Golf Club and won by Benjie
Franco and Bas Baskaran, respectively. Then Philippine
Consul General, Ariel Abadilla attended the occasion. It
was during this time that the ConGen Abadilla suggested
that the annual tournament be appropriately renamed
“Kalayaan Cup”.
During the succeeding four years (2001-2004),
the Kalayaan Cup was held at the Campbelltown Golf
Club every long week-end in June. The number of
participants had reached the maximum limit of 144. The
winners during these years were Roger Lagon (2001),
Michael Giannaros (2002), Jeremy Zabat (2003) and Oscar
Clemente for 2004. These winners received return airfare
to Manila courtesy of Philippine Airlines as their major
prize on top of a monumental trophy and the right to
engrave their names in the perpetual trophy.
In 2001 through Mr. Arnul Pan, PAL Country Manager
for Australia & New Zealand, the naming rights’ was
given to Philippine Airlines in return for two return
airfares to Manila - one for the champion and the

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