Golf, wine fundraiser reaps $150K for PH development education

Over-All Champions, father and son, Jaden Dumdumaya (9 years old) and his dad, Stan Dumdumaya, with their trophies. Behind are Chito Desuasido, Maria Banatao and Sonny Manuel at the PhilDev golf-wine fundraiser. PHOTO BY ESTHER CHAVEZ

SAN FRANCISCO — Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), a Menlo Park, California-based nonprofit, raised $75,000 at its successful Inaugural Golf Tournament on August 29 at wine country’s Chardonnay Golf Club in American Canyon, California. The amount will be matched by the group’s founder, Dado Banatao.

In addition to welcoming 114 golfers, PhilDev also hosted a sold-out wine tour and a dinner-dance affair, attended by over 300 guests. Supported by over 30 volunteers, it was the first time that such a 3-in-1 event was held, with rave reviews from all the attendees.

Golfers were delighted to find their custom goodie bags overflowing with gifts and snack items. Winning opportunities ran the gamut from “nearest to the pin” in all Par 3 holes to two “Hole-in-one” prizes: a brand-new Toyota Camry and a one-week get-away in Kauai (no one made a whole-in-one though.) Drinks were available including complimentary beers at the 10th hole hosted by Morgan Stanley.

A full house at Grove Ballroom. PHOTO BY TOM NELSON

The wine tour was a huge success, with PhilDev arranging exclusive wine tasting and cellar tour stops at premium wineries Silver Oak Winery and Whitehall Winery in Napa. A final stop at Cellar Collections introduced attendees to a variety of new wines.

Picture-Perfect

A picture-perfect summer moon hung over the vineyard-cum golf country club as the day wounded up with a dinner-dance at Chardonnay Grove, an elegant tented, spacious venue adjacent to the clubhouse, a stone’s throw away from the 10th tee fairway. It was open bar for premium wines donated by Genevieve wines, Switchback Ridge, Corte Riva Coppola and mixes with Infanta Lambanog.

Co-chairs of the event, Maria Banatao and Sherri Burke, emceed a short program, which was highlighted by a four-minute video about PhilDev Chair and Founder, Dado Banatao, his humble beginnings and his story of perseverance and struggle for success. The film was produced by MAKU of San Francisco and has been viewed and shared by over a million people on Facebook.

At the awards ceremony that followed, golfers gave up their winnings from the Par 3 Vegas holes and donated the amounts back to PhilDev, a demonstration of generosity which was evident throughout the day.

Winners

Tournament winners were: Over-all Champions, Jaden Dumdumaya (9 years old) and his dad, Stan Dumdumaya; 1st Runner Up: Tony Limgenco and Cesar Rodulfo; 2nd Runner Up: Jeremy Villafuerte (15 years old) and his dad, Ellis Villafuerte.

Best Dressed Female golfer award went to Uni Mayesh, and the Best Dressed Male golfer award went to the youngest and up-and-coming golf champ, Jaden Dumdumaya.

Maria and Sherri with the team at the Registration Table:  Standing:  Chito Desuasido, Sherri Burke, Sherri’s friend, Beth Reyes, Maria Banatao, Denny Roja and Ricky Tejada.  Sitting:  Marivic Julia, Mae Desuasido, Maria Roja, Lea Limgenco, Sonny Manuel. PHOTO BY TOM NELSON

Major corporations and individuals who supported the event under the Albatross and Eagle levels were Linda Lester of Lester Investment Properties, Tallwood Partners, Cumberland Holdings, Ayala Land, Jordan Gersh of Morgan Stanley, Rene Medina of Lucky Chances, PhilDev Trustees, Wells Fargo, Asian Pacific Fund, Bel Air Investment Advisors, Pascual Pharma Group, Medical Care Professionals, First Republic Bank, Philippine Airlines and Sophie and Phil Ladenla.

Ace sponsors and Friends Circle rounded off cash sponsorships. In addition, in-kind and silent auction donations helped raise additional funds.

Through the generosity of the sponsors and donors, the event exceeded its goal and raised over $75,000 that will ensure that PhilDev continues to maintain and build sustainable and globally competitive programs for Filipinos for years to come. PhilDev Chair Dado Banatao and his wife Maria, announced that they will match the funds raised.

PH Tech future

PhilDev, a not for profit organization, was founded in 2010, and is based in both the San Francisco Bay Area and Manila Philippines. The two entities work together to implement all of PhilDev’s programs to create foundational systems in the Philippines that would build a future of technological and economic growth.

“We imagine a Philippines where every child has access to education and is raised with a foundation in Science and Technology. This is a reality that PhilDev is creating.” Banatao explained.

He knows of where he speaks — a life experience that has brought him accolades in Silicon Valley and the world. Banatao, the son of a farmer in Cagayan Valley, was Jesuit-educated in his formative years at the Ateneo de Tuguegarao High School, and studied engineering at Mapua Institute of Technology and Stanford University.

He acknowledged his father’s sacrifice that gave him the impetus to succeed in his undertakings. As an accomplished electrical engineer, he is most noted for his invention of the PC chipset and graphics acceleration architecture, technologies found in every PC today.

Poverty eradication

At PhilDev, he has made it his mission with a group of passionate trustees on both Boards to help the Philippines eradicate poverty through education, innovation, and entrepreneurship. To date there has been 82 PhilDev scholars in eight universities.

Dado Banatao (left) with golf clubs rumored to have “super-secret chips” in them. PHOTO BY TOM NELSON

Early this year, Phildev partnered with the Commission of higher education in the Philippines to mandate a three-unit “technopreneurship” elective for university engineering students across the country.

To this end, five Filipino professors will attend the fall semester at UC Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. Since 2013, Phildev has sent 10 U.S. professors to the Philippines to teach the course.

Recently, Phildev facilitated the creation of PCARI, a new approach to health and information research bringing together the skills, environment and expertise of American and Filipino scholars. The two distinct researches formed were: Institute for Health Innovation and Translational Medicine which translates new scientific research into practical treatment and diagnostic procedures in the ten major causes of morbidity and mortality in the Philippines; while the Institute for Information, infrastructure Development, directs projects in information technology, energy, e-government and e-learning.

Agriculture is not far from PhilDev’s sights. Together with the Philippine government, it is reviewing additional projects that will build on the Philippines’ sizeable agrarian potential. To this end, PhilDev has partnered with UC Davis’ acclaimed school of agriculture.

Certainly, the round of golf, wine tour and dinner-dance to support such life-changing projects were totally worth it. Chito Desuasido, mortgage banker and one of the golf organizers, was pleased to announce that the 2nd Annual PhilDev Golf Tournament has been tentatively scheduled for July 23, 2016.

To stay in touch with future PhilDev events and news visit www.phildev.org or on Facebook: facebook.com/philippinedevelopment or Instagram: @phil_dev.org.

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