Filipino athletes shine despite PSC snub

Philippine Sports is beginning to see a perceptible shift in keeping with the public-private sector partnership recently espoused by President Aquino in the broader context of national development.
The involvement of respected businessmen-sportsmen in sports, exemplified by Manny V. Pangilinan, and their close working relationship with a few national sports associations is clearly reaping success. It comes in the face of dismaying neglect by the Philippine Sports Commission, under chair Richie Garcia, and the internecine strife within the Philippine Olympic Committee headed by Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr.
Regrettably, as one wag put it, Cojuangco thinks the POC is his Hacienda Luisita where he can do whatever he wishes, including declaring NSA head Go Teng Kok persona non grata and then conducting a signature campaign to have him expelled.
By taking the issue of his arbitrary ouster as karatedo president to court, Cojuangco claims that Go gave credence to the allegation of government interference in sports which could have the country suspended by the International Olympic Committee. This is unvarnished hogwash.
Who runs sports in China and Russia? What better evidence of government intervention than countries that have a Ministry of Sports. Using the bugaboo of possible suspension by the IOC was effectively squashed by the man who should know—IOC representative Frank Elizalde.
In the midst of the PSC’s lack of concern and the POC’s litany of squabbles, the case that stands out, and which Cojuangco and Garcia have done absolutely nothing about, concerns one of the POC’s key officials, Mark Joseph.
Joseph’s buddy, former Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. chair Ephraim Genuino, who allegedly directly gave his swimming association P30 million—in violation of the law which requires Pagcor to channel its funds to the PSC, faces a litany of charges before the Ombudsman.
Amidst all this, however, the private sector provides more than a glimmer of hope. The Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines with Pangilinan as chair and Ricky Vargas as president recently achieved a major breakthrough when 15-year-old Eumir Felix Marcial became the first Filipino to win a gold medal in the fiercely competitive AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships.
While the PSC provided no support for Marcial, whose poor parents lived in a squatter shanty before being transferred to a relocation site in Zamboanga, Garcia showed up for the presentation of a P300,000 incentive to the kid by Mr. Pangilinan.
The Philippine Football Federation—with support from the private sector including the big television networks led by ABS-CBN as well as the No. 1 newspaper, the Inquirer and a host of sponsors—has fired our peoples’ interest in football. But we could not help notice the huge banner at the Rizal football stadium proclaiming that the PSC supports sports. And yet the two-time world champion Dragon Boat team, the Asia Pacific girls softball champions and Marcial, among others, got no support from the PSC. Some help!
As for the superb playing field which was the result of a widely criticized agreement between former PSC chair Harry Angping and La Salle, the current PSC leadership dare not take the credit. Neither can they take credit for the well-refurbished grandstand which, we gather, was carried out by the PFF at its own expense.
Unable to get the Dragon Boat Federation to submit to its whims, the POC refused to recognize the association that produced two world champions in 2007 and 2009 and even had the audacity to cast aspersions on the paddlers, who came mainly from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, by insinuating that they were on steroids.
Denied of any financial help from the PSC, the Dragon Boat champions were relieved when two companies of Lucio Tan—Philippine Airlines and Cobra Energy Drink—through the efforts of Michael Ngo joined hands to make sure the team went to Tampa, Florida, in search of a three-peat.
When Manny Pangilinan saw an Inquirer story where the parents of our girls’ softball champions were appealing for donations to help the kids compete in the world series in Michigan, he promptly offered to shoulder the costs.
These are the saviors of Philippine sports, not the so-called sports leaders who operate out of comparatively plush offices while our national athletes scrounge around for funds.