SILO mindset and practices hurt. When Alex Yee started the turtle hatchery in Libaran Island in 2013 at the asking and technical inputs from the Wildlife Department, it turned out to be a silo operation, a lone vanguard in chase of a transcendental cause.
Reaching out to a village chief for support, he found not only rejection but also literally obstruction – a classic silo mindset. Reaching out to the Sandakan local authority to clear a kilometre long turtle nesting beach buried under a mountain of garbage, he was also rejected, another silo mindset.
One day, a few years later, he sounded his intention to quit but changed his mind when a lone journalist and supporter reminded him of Vince Lombardi’s famous quote: “Winners never quit, quitters never win”.
POOLING the interest and strength of everybody can do wonders. Pooling power works also in sea turtle conservation, even though turtles are not a preoccupation of the human race.
1993 was a particularly memorable year in chess history. Short and Kasparov had decided to leave FIDE and organise their World Championship match on their own, and FIDE, with its then President Campomanes, then organised an alternative World Championship match with Karpov and Timman. But this was not under a good star. During the opening ceremony pyrotechnics set fire to a banner on the stage.
In a wide-ranging interview, Casto Abundo talks about his lengthy career as a chess organiser, his work alongside Florencio Campomanes and the time he spent with Bobby Fischer in the Philippines. Abundo shares: “I had to play racquetball with Bobby, swim with him far into the open seas, go on long nightly walks discussing chess, arrange a date with a Filipina national chess team member he liked, drive him to the yacht of President Marcos, and watch as he replayed games from Chess Informant every night”.
A recalcitrant offender who has been in and out of jail over multiple counts of assault will serve another stint behind bars after he attacked a woman in 2021, damaging one of her eardrums.