INQUIRER Sports

PLEASE COME OUT, STEP FORWARD and prove your genuine love for Philippine sports.

It?s a very rare invitation?a challenge which seldom comes to a man?s life?which has been given the president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Peping Cojuangco, younger brother of the venerable former President Cory Aquino, was asked the other day by Harry Angping, chair of the Philippine Sports Commission, to reconcile with him so they could work together for the sake of Philippine sports.

* * *

No ifs, no buts.

Angping said they could do it anytime, anywhere.

These two gentlemen, top figures in the national sports hierarchy, have been at odds over many matters, mainly on how to form, run and fund our athletic contingents campaigning abroad.

The feud has, in fact, come to a point when it was impossible to put them together inside a single room.

* * *

With their raging animosity, they would surely jump up and start tearing at each other.

You know, like two killer tigers left to do battle inside a cage.

Actually, this grudge has come to a brutal point when our national athletes are often left on the bloody end.

?Let?s put all those disagreements in the past, let?s sit down and start all over again,? Angping offered.

* * *

Actually, this call did not sound like one from a sports reformer who?s also known in his turf as Dirty Harry.

In fact, it was a big puzzle how Angping suddenly offered to lay down his arm.

Granting he accedes, Cojuangco could show up with anything he chooses.

Angping, for his part, is sure to be armed with nothing more than newfound humility.

* * *

?Philippine sports will not succeed if the PSC and the POC don?t work together,? Angping said.

The PSC big boss, indeed, had to swallow his pride in order to bend this low.

That, you bet, required a lot of sacrifice, mainly for the man?s ego.

It was one big, courageous move that had needed the instant elimination of pride.

* * *

Now, as far as Cojuangco is concerned, it goes without saying that he has been similarly given a test of genuine manhood.

Being the younger brother of Cory Aquino, the icon of democracy who has been installed a candidate for sainthood, Cojuangco can only be expected to act responsibly.

OK, he may have displayed an uneven, dizzying brand of bravado the way he has waged personal wars in his turf.

However, the POC chieftain is now faced with a lifetime challenge which he would be very stupid to refuse.