Former Blue Eagle Racela to light cauldron in UAAP opening

Olsen Racela will carry the torch and will light up the cauldron when the Season 74 of the UAAP opens Saturday in a one-of-a-kind opening ceremony at the Marikina City Sports Park. Racela, a member of the first Ateneo back-to-back champion team in 1987 and 1988, will light up the cauldron signaling the opening of the season themed "All Heart. All Out" in an Olympic-style opening rites slated at 4 p.m. rain or shine. UAAP president Ricky Palou of season host Ateneo said 4,000 color-coded umbrellas are on standby in case if it rains. Racela, after his collegiate career, went on to play for 18 years with Purefoods and San Miguel Beer in the PBA. He also donned the National colors in the 2002 Busan Asian Games in South Korea. He is currently the coach of the Pilipinas-Energen under-16 national youth team as well as an assistant coach for the Petron Blaze in the PBA. Close to 3,000 athletes competing in the 15 sports disciplines this season will march around the oval in an event with 600 more will be participating in the program with close to 8,000 students, alumni and fans expected to watch at the Marikina Sports Park. Palou said that the idea of an Olympic-style opening rites began three years ago after they got the hosting rights for 2011. He added that project head Benjo Afuang started preparations in January while the actual rehearsals began April. The Blue Eagles are going full-force for the opening ceremony and have deployed practically every major organization in the Katipunan campus for the event — the 30-piece Blue Symphony, Company of Ateneo Dancers, Ateneo Junior Marketing Association Dancers, Ateneo Residence Students Association Dormers Dancers, Indak (Ateneo High dancers) and the Ateneo Boys' Choir, Glee Club and Chamber Singers and the 165-strong Blue Babble Battalion. Sponge Cola, The Itchyworms and Kjwan will end the ceremony with a free concert along with a fireworks display. Palou and secretary treasurer Emmanuel Fernandez will head the list of VIPs attending the event along with Ateneo president Fr. Jett Villarin SJ, the entire UAAP board and the eight member schools' top officials, alumni and students. Also highlighting the affair is the entry of colors where Ateneo's cadets will carry a 60x30 feet flag. Reigning general champion University of Santo Tomas will have the most number of athletes parading with 627 followed by University of the East (512), University of the Philippines (425), De La Salle University (417), Adamson University and Far Eastern University (300 each), and National University (260). They will march before their fellow students and their respective schools' representatives to the UAAP board — Adamson's Rev. Fr. Maximino Rendon CM, and Maria Luisa Isip, Ateneo's Palou and Fernandez, La Salle's Edwin Theodoro Reyes and Noel Buenaventura, FEU's Antonio Montinola and Jocelyn de Leon, NU's Jose Nilo Ocampo and Edmundo Baculi Jr., UE's Carmelita Mateo and Rodrigo Roque, UP's Dr. Caesar Saloma and Dr. Leilani Gonzalo and UST's Rev. Fr. Ermito de Sagon OP, and Gilda Ma. Paz Kamus. Marikina Mayor Del de Guzman and Reps. Marci Teodoro (First District) and Miro Quimbo (Second District) are also expected to watch the affair. - Reuben Terrad/JVP, GMA News