With the heights in Beverly Hills - Breanna Zofia Bunevacz Turns one!

Breana Zofia Bunevacz Here with her mother, talent manager Jessica Rodriguez turned one year old om June 18. However, her fit-for-a-princess party, which we gathered cost some P160,000, was held the next day at Rockwell’s The Loft in Makati. “Kagabi, naiyak ako,” says Jesica. “Kasi naalala ko lahat ng nangyari… na muntik n kong mamatay noong ipinag-bubuntis ko siya.” Jessica’s last trimester of pregnancy was a difficult one. She had to stay for three months at the Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital in San Juan. But beautiful Breanna is certainly worth all the trouble that Jessica had to go through.

Breanna’s proud dad is former athlete and TV host David Bunevacz, who now works as a contractor for a construction company

Sexy star Patrica Javier, one of Jessica’s talents, brought her pamangkins Jewel and Boboy to the party.

Joanne Quintas-Primero with her one-month-old baby boy, Mulawin. Joanne was the event coordinator that day. “Solo venture ko ito.” She tell us. “First time ko ginawa itong magpa-children’s party.”

Jessica Rodriguez and David Bunevacz: When love booted out all the accusations and scandals

Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA). UCLA faxed David’s credentials to Mr. Go and by the time he got back to LA in February, everything was settled.

In April, Go visited him in UCLA, and he only found out about his allowance being “adjusted” when he arrived in Manila last May. Incidentally, his trips on Economy Class are also paid by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and then upgraded by Philippine Air Lines, David’s “Official Carrier”.

Shortly after he arrived, he met with PSC Chairman Philip Juico, whom he found to be “a very sincere man, who really wants to help.” The new deal is that he will be given a monthly allowance of 8,000 pesos, same as all the other Filipino athletes, and the PCS and PATAFA will take it upon themselves to look for the balance from private sector. Apart from that, anything else that David makes from personal endorsements is between him and his business managers. That’s right, David’s got two of them, Marie Gutierrez and Aligada, who schedule his commitments, represent him in all negotiations and tell him when it’s time for bed (I’m not kidding).

The alliance came about because a certain product wanted him to be their image model and was offering a huge sum. Marie looked high and low for David and offered to manage his career.

“how did you find me again – you called, like, 50 million people, right?” David still seems surprised about all the trouble they went through to hunt him down.

Unfortunately, at that time, he was getting a lot of negative publicity, and the company withdrew their offer. But there will be more, we can be sure of that. He’s definitely not lacking in all the accouterments of a future personality.

Aside from the gorgeous Najera brothers and the boyish good looks of Paeng Nepomuceno, David is one of the most winning-looking athletes of this decade.

And he’s taken it a step further. He makes time for the interviews, the photo sessions, the charity events and the clinics.

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well with people in the sports world. Many are beginning to think of David as publicity hound. But that might just be a perception of people – probably because other athletes don’t get the same treatment. And he doesn’t seem to go looking for exposure. The media looks for him. Undoubtedly, even adverse publicity has served him well. At the same time, it also pushed the sport into the public eye.

It comes down to an individuality issue. Is David Bunecacz more concerned with himself than with his sport? When you hear him say, with utter conviction, “You have to go beyond you means to achieve something because there are always better athletes out there, “you begin to concerned, it might not to be too far-fetched to say that he’s just what the country needs.

Besides, will we care about possible “ulterior motives” when the medals start coming in? And if there’s anything we can say for sure about David, it’s that he’s got what it takes to be a champion.

And he knows it. “I’ve always loved competitions, and I’ve always had to win, no matter what.”

No matter what. Fighting words. To go with a fighting spirit. Exactly what David will need to weather it through detractors, disappointments, and difficult training—all the things you can expect when you’re not yet a champion, but rather, a champion in

A David's Quest: From USA to Philippines: the man behind the Beverly Hills 6750 issue.

California and became the State Decathlon Champion.

From 1988 to 1993, he worked on his degree in Business Management majoring in Sociology at UCLA, where he set the University record for the Javeling throw and was chosen captain of the All-American Team. But as far as his athletic career goes, Bunevacz didn’t have a carpeted path to success. There were many frustrations. At one point, despite advice to the contrary from his coach, he was lifting weights that were to heavy and severely ruptured part of his spine. He had to undergo surgery, but luckily, he says, the injury has not recurred.

In 1992, David became a senior in college, and it was “a really bad year” for him. As a decathlete, he ranked number two in the US, but made the costly mistake of switching over to a

European coach who worked his o hard that he injured in Finland, during the qualifying meet that would have sent him to compete in the Barcelona Olympics.

Needless to say, he dumped that coach and a couple of years later, seems to be back on the track—literally. He trains eight hours a day and stays on a rigid diet when in LA. His coaches now are Jim Bush (“he’s in the track and field Hall of Fame”), John Smith, Anthony Curran, and Art Vanegas, guys who are “second to none in the States.” The relatively huge training allowance awarded to him, later withdrawn, by the PSC was to have paid for these coaches subsequently.

And this guy takes his sport seriously. In his opinion, the decathlete who wins in the Olympics is the greatest athlete in the world. David

explains that the decathlon is “the most grueling, most demanding” of all competitions. In the two days of a decathlon, there are 10 events to compete in, five per day. His fortes are the Shot put, Discus and especially the Javelin Throw(during a workshop he was giving at the Rizal Coliseum, David threw a javelin from a standing position and it landed just a couple of meters short of the existing Philippine record, which was thrown after the usual running start). The other events are the 110-metre hurdles, 1500-metre run, and the Pole Vault, which he has difficulty with because of his height.

A world-class decathlete should have a total of 7,700 points. At 21, David had already achieved 7,350. This, specifically, is where a big “why” come in. Why, if he is as good as he’s touted, would he prefer to be on the RP team rather than the US squad? Why the sudden interest in a country that he’s never ever been to? It could be that he’s the type of person who prefers the “big fish, small pond” situation. Despite speculations and rumors, it’s difficult to really be sure. At least, David fills us in on “how” it all came about.

Ben Caesar, another Fil-American athlete, asked him if he wanted to compete for the Philippines. David decided that it was an opportune time to check things out. He came over on his very first visit to the country in January of this year. While here, he met with Go Teng Kok, who heads the