Who We Are

About Us

PILIPINAS SAMURAI FOUNDATION

THE PILIPINAS SAMURAI FOUNDATION was established to help Filipino youth develop their baseball skills under the guidance of leading Japanese baseball programs.

The Foundation aims to enhance our Filipino coaches’ skills and ensure our Program is aligned with best practices and accessible to all. Eventually, our goal is to establish the Philippines as a source of talent for top professional baseball leagues, particularly in the United States and Japan.

Since our inception in 2019, we have invited several key coaches from Japan to conduct baseball training programs for our players and coaches. Because of this collaboration, we have had the opportunity to compete in international tournaments with great success. As a result, over 100 kids from age six onwards are enrolled in our Program, including scholars from poor communities, who have benefited by improving their baseball skills, competing outside the Philippines, and getting better educational opportunities through scholarships. Eventually, we plan to transition to other sports using this framework.

Image hover effect image — **Pilipinas** Samurai

The Team

Meet Our Team

Keiko Suzuki Ozaeta

Keiko handles partnerships with Japan and helps with fundraising. She is fluent in both Japanese and English and has lived in the Philippines since 2001. She has worked in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines as an interpreter and translator.

Keiko started her career at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo’s Economic Section and moved on to work at the MIT Sloan School’s Career Development Office while obtaining her Master of Science degree at Simmons College. She studied International Political Science and Business Administration at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo and has three kids who have played or are currently playing baseball and softball.

Trinchy Garcia

Trinchy provides guidance and overall direction for our Samurai programs. She is currently the head of the Health and Physical Education department at Brent International School Manila. She has been a high school P.E. teacher for the past 5 years and prior to that, a middle school P.E. teacher for 9 years.

Trinchy has been at Brent International School Manila for over 16 years where she was the head coach of Girls Varsity Volleyball (2004-2010), assistant coach for Girls Varsity Basketball (2003-2010), and currently the head coach for Girls Varsity Soccer and Boys Varsity Baseball. Trinchy played varsity softball, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and tennis in high school, as well as played Division I softball for Saint Mary’s College of California as a catcher, third baseman, and outfielder.

She was educated at St. Mary’s College of California with a major in Communications and minor in Business. She also earned a Master’s degree at the University of San Francisco in Sports and Fitness Management. Trinchy has two young children playing baseball.

Ogie Villalon

Ogie provides guidance and strategic direction for the foundation. He is presently retired after spending years with Metrobank, Ayala Investment & Development Corp., Dow Jones Telerate, Prebon Money Brokers, and Tradition Financial Services.

He attended college at the University of Notre Dame and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He has been involved in baseball/softball activities for most of his life, having seen his kids through Little League, and has been involved in organizing slow-pitch softball games every Sunday for the past seven years.

Javey De Venecia

Javey provides guidance and strategic direction for the Samurai programs and the foundation. He is currently the President and Founder of Eximius BPO, and together with his team, is responsible for overall operations, business development, and service delivery.

Javey is an entrepreneur and is well-versed in starting and growing businesses. Apart from his business, he advises several other organizations and foundations. He has an MBA from the London Business School and a Business Administration degree from Santa Clara University in the U.S. He has a young son playing baseball.

Raymond Tolentino

Raymond is the President of the Pilipinas Samurai Foundation. He is currently the COO of Creative Synergy, Inc., an events and marketing agency, the Managing Partner of Voozoo Inc., the sole distributor of Black Magic Device cameras and broadcast equipment, Skull Candy headphones, Lanparte and Voigtlander lenses, and the President of C-Live, a video live events, documentation and equipment rental company. Raymond is well-versed in organizing and marketing big events in the country given his extensive background in the performing arts. He has performed and collaborated with artists such as The Swingle Singers, Andrea Bocelli, Ryan Cayabyab, Michel Legrand, Claude Michel Schonberg, Lea Salonga, Manila Symphony Orchestra, Aberdeen Youth Symphony Orchestra, Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, and Manila Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines Diliman and has two children playing baseball.

Joel Palanog

Joel is the head coach of the Philippine Samurai Baseball Team. He was also the head coach of the International School Bangkok varsity baseball team. Over the years, he has dedicated his life to the pursuit of developing baseball around Asia, including head coaching stints with the Manila Sharks, National University, Surabaya Indonesia Baseball Team, and the Bangkok Baseball Softball Association. He is a graduate of National University and has one young child playing baseball.

Rodolfo "Inky" Orlina Reyes

Inky is the legal counsel and corporate secretary of the Foundation. He is currently a senior partner at the Gordon Reyes Viado & Blanco Law Offices, a full-service law firm. He handles tax and corporate matters for clients but also dabbles in litigation, mostly on a pro bono basis.

Inky is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Philippine Red Cross and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Real Life Foundation. He graduated with degrees in Bachelor of Science in Business Economics and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines.

He is a baseball aficionado, having played in the Pony League for his high school team, and still plays softball on occasion. He is an avid fan of the New York Mets.

Takuya Yoshikawa

Takuya is a special adviser to the Foundation and the U11 Manager of Musashi Fuchu Little League, Japan. He played baseball at Keio University in Tokyo. His coaching vision and mission stem from what he acquired at Keio, which is “Enjoy Baseball”. Coach Yoshikawa became aware of our program in 2019 when former professional player Shogo Shibata introduced the Musashi Fuchu Little League to the Samurai baseball team, and they hosted a joint baseball camp in Fuchu. Since then, he continues to guide the foundation through online training and programs and has visited Manila to coach baseball. Together with his son, they traveled to Bangkok in 2019 to support the Samurais in a baseball tournament. His son played for the Samurai team as a pitcher and an infielder. He also has twin daughters who both enjoy soccer and cheerleading.