WHATEVER HAPPENED to BJ Manalo, the cager who tried hosting then in Abs-cbn’S “Magandang Tanghali Bayan”? “I’m really more of an athlete so I put up a company, Forerunner, that helps players and coaches in the country to rain champions,” he says. Recently, he resurfaced when he joined
Medicol’s Winners Race to a Million, a charity race where he bested other celebs like Akihiro Sato, Paolo Paraiso, and Survivor Philippines winners JC Tiuseco and Amanda Van Coolly. They raced from one city to another doing all sorts of jobs to raise money for their chosen charities like Gawad Kalinga and World Vision. JC sold Medicol in a public market. Amanda became an ice cream vendor. Paolo went up and down session road asking people to have their foto taken with him. BJ did what he knows best: hold basketball clinics.
At the end of the race, BJ was the topnotcher, earning P578,000, with Paolo second with P278,000. All in all, they collected more than P1 million and they gave this to World Vision, plus P350,000 more from Mercury Drug. “It’s nice to be able to help other people so I’m glad I joined, but credit for our win should be given back to God, who knows our heart’s desire to be of help,” says BJ who is very spiritual.
