MANILA, Philippines – As far as San Miguel Beermen’s June Mar Fajardo is concerned, championships are still more valuable than any other individual award.

Fajardo, who just made history by becoming the third player to win the Most Valuable Player plum 4 times and the first to win it in consecutive seasons, made it clear that he keeps his eyes locked on championships.

“The Kraken” was also included in the First Mythical Team and the league’s All-Defensive team. 

“Hindi ko naman talaga priority ‘yung MVP e. Since noong college ako, gusto ko talaga ‘yung championship kasi mas maganda talaga ‘yung championship e,” said the 27-year-old who is just on his 5th year in the Association. 

(The MVP is really not my priority. Since college, I’ve always wanted to win the championships because a championship is much better.)

“’Yung feeling na nakikita mo ‘yung mukha ng mga kasama mo, lalo na ‘yung mga fans at pamilya mo, mas maganda ‘yung feeling. Alam ko masaya rin sila na nanalo ako ng MVP pero diba, ako lang ‘yung nakakabonus tapos sila hindi. Mas okay kung nagchampion kami.”

(I feel better when I see the faces of my teammates, especially the fans and my family, when we win a championship. I know they are happy for me that I won the MVP but I am the only one who gets the bonus. It’s way better if we came out champions.) 

The Beermen were on the verge of becoming just the sixth team to win a grand slam in the 42 years of the PBA after reigning supreme in the Philippine Cup and the Commissioner’s Cup a few months ago. 

However, San Miguel’s aspirations were crushed following a 104-84 drubbing from Barangay Ginebra in the quarterfinals of the Governors’ Cup just weeks ago.

“Natie ko ‘yung record ng most MVPs sa PBA, sobrang nakakatuwa. Pero hindi naman talaga ito ‘yung goal namin this year e. Goal namin, magchampion kami sa conference na ito. Hindi nangyari, hindi binigay ni God sa amin this time,” said Fajardo.

(I am overwhelmed since I tied the most MVPs in the PBA. But this was really not our goal this year. Our goal was to win the championship in this conference. Unfortunately, it did not happen. God did not give that to us this time.)

But the Cebuano remains hopeful that his Beermen will fulfil the mission they failed to complete this season, especially now that they are motivated after teammates Chris Ross, Alex Cabagnot and Arwind Santos joined him in the Mythical First Team.

“Grand slam sana, pero hindi namin nakuha e. Pero hindi naman [ibig sabihin] na hindi na namin makukuha ‘yun e, may next year. Hindi naman lahat ng mga naging successful na tao, nakuha nila ‘yung gusto nila in the first try e. Fail kami this season sa grand slam pero kung tutuusin mo, two-out-3, hindi na rin masama ‘yun. Sa grand slam, kaya namin next year pero one conference at a time.”

(We were really looking to win the grand slam but we failed. But that does not mean we cannot win it, there is still next year. A lot of successful people do not achieve their goals in their first try. We failed this season in our bid for the grand slam but if you look at it, winning two of the 3 championships is not really bad. We will come for the grand slam next year but we will take it one conference at a time.) – Rappler.com