Sports heroes enshrined; POC a no-show in RP Sports Hall of Fame

Top officials of the Philippine Olympic Committee headed by its president Peping Cojuangco were conspicuously absent when sports heroes were enshrined in the inaugural staging of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame. None among the members of the POC executive committee were there when the finest athletes of the country from yesteryears were feted at the historic Manila Hotel. “We sent them invitations from the POC to PSC and to Mr. (Frank) Elizalde, the IOC representative to the Philippines," said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Harry Angping, who organized the event that was supposed to be held 11 years ago. “It's a pity, they could have been part of history," added Angping. Cojuangco has been at odds with Angping over policies the latter made on sports since assuming the chairmanship from William Ramirez in February 2009. The law regarding the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame was passed in 1999 under the administration of President Joseph Estrada. POC spokesman Joey Romasanta said that he didn’t know why other members of the POC board failed to attend but it should be understandable if Cojuangco could not show up since he is busy helping the campaign of nephew Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino, who is one of the presidential candidates in Monday's National Election. Deputy secretary-general and current swimming president Mark Joseph sent a text message, saying he is out of the country. Despite the absence of the POC top brass, the function ended in a huge success as athletes who made their mark in their chosen sports disciplines were enshrined in this first-of-its-kind gathering. “We're very thankful that Mr. Angping came around at natuloy na rin ang Philippine Sports Hall of Fame. It was in 1999 when the bill was passed and we thought that it was already forgotten until we got a call for the enshrinement," said Laura Elorde, wife of the late, boxing great Gabriel “Flash" Elorde. Basketball’s Living Legend and former Senator Robert Jaworksi, who was the principal sponsor of the bill in the Senate creating the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame, was elated on the turn of events. “It feel's good because this is what the country needs. We need to have more heroes. We have to believe that we can be better than any other race and there is no better arena than in sports. The Olympics is one of the oldest institutions in the world and if we could gather all our efforts, vision and resources to come up with more heroes, then we will have a country with better character that will also lead to excellence," said Jaworski, a member of the 1973 RP men’s basketball team that won the gold medal in the Asian Basketball Confederation over the Shin Dong-Pa-led Korean squad. Chief Justice Reynato Puno was the guest of honor and inducting officer. Aside from Elorde, Justice Puno feted other sports heroes such as former world boxing champions Francisco “Pancho Villa" Guilledo, Ceferino Garcia and Olympic boxing heroes Jose “Cely" Villanueva and son Anthony, Olympian Teofilo Yldefonso of swimming, Simeon Toribio and Miguel White of athletics, Carlos “Caloy" Loyzaga of basketball and his cage team that placed third in the 1954 World Championship. Three members of the said team, which attained the highest-placed honor achieved by an Asian nation up to this time in the World Basketball Championship, were present during this special ceremony -- Tony Genato, Florentino Baustista and Napoleon Flores. They personally received their trophies and P100,000 incentive from the PSC. Enshrinement of Filipino athletes great will be held every two years and Angping is hoping that POC officials will finally join them in 2012. - RCJ, GMANews.TV