INQUIRER Sports

FORMER MANILA Mayor and Philippine Sports Commission chair Mel Lopez is set to launch his book highlighting his fight for freedom, justice and democracy during the martial law years of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

Entitled ?Mel Lopez: Politics and Principles,? the book details his mission to combat the abuses of Marcos, his uncompromising stand against all forms of gambling (he closed the casinos and jai alai during his term and was jailed for it) and his fight for the abolition of the Metro Manila Commission after questioning the constitutionality of Presidential Decree No. 824 which created the MMC.

It is also worth mentioning here that Lopez did not touch a single centavo of taxpayers? money in all his trips abroad during his long years as a public servant and sports official.

When he was a Manila councilor, mayor and assemblyman and PSC chair and amateur boxing president, the cash-strapped government did not spend for his travels, unlike many government officials now who use public funds. We mention some members of Congress who are set to leave (or have left already?) for Las Vegas to watch the forthcoming Pacquiao-Cotto bout.

?I could have, but I did not take advantage of my position and avail of the free trips because there are other people who need the chance to travel and improve their lives,? he said.

A true-blue sportsman with a passion for boxing, Lopez headed the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines.

During his term, ABAP produced two of the last three Filipino Olympic boxing medal winners.

Under Mel?s stewardship, the Philippines won a bronze through Leopoldo Serantes in the 1988 Seoul Olympics and duplicated the feat through Roel Velasco in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

With his son Manny taking over as ABAP head, the country again captured a silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Centennial Olympics courtesy of the small but terrible Mansueto ?Onyok? Velasco.

The other Olympic boxing medal winners were Cely Villanueva, who snared a bronze at the 1932 Los Angeles Games, and Cely?s son, Anthony, who bagged the country?s first Olympic silver medal at the 1964 Tokyo Games when the ABAP was then headed by businessman-sportsman Eugenio ?Gene? Puyat.

* * *

The late Angel ?Pappy? Nepomuceno, father-coach of bowling great Paeng, was a bowling coach up to his death.

Shortly before he died on Oct. 31 at age 81, Pappy gave last-minute instructions to his son on how to conduct himself against the tremendous odds Paeng will face in his quest for an unprecedented fifth International Bowling World Cup title.

?It pains me that I lost my dad,? lamented Paeng, adding that this will be the first time he will be representing the Philippines in the World Cup without a coach. Paeng is slated to play in the World Cup starting on Nov. 14 at Melaka, Malaysia.

?Pappy died peacefully in his sleep,? recalled his wife, the former Teresita ?Baby? Villa-Real, during Pappy?s wake at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park.

Bedridden after suffering a stroke a few months back, Pappy spent many happy moments with Baby at their Forbes Park home. ?All our children have their own families now, with some of them living abroad. It is only Paeng, his wife Pinky and my grandchildren who live nearby,? said Baby, who won the first ever Miss Philippines crown in 1934, when the beauty pageant was still under the auspices of Boys Town.

* * *

Human rights lawyer and former Bulacan board member Pete Principe asked me recently: What was the response of Globe at SM Marilao to my complaint for the slow, uncaring and inefficient treatment of their clients by their service people?

I told him there was none.