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By Noli S. Cruz, junior desk editor
PHILIPPINE Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez
may be the dirtiest man in custom-made barong these days.
After yet another forgettable showing of
Filipino athletes in the Olympics, Ramirez became the favorite
target of mudslingers in the local sports community.
He’s not complaining, though. “That’s part
of the job,” he said.
History bears him out.
With great power comes great responsibility.
That dilemma is not his alone.
His predecessors also encountered similar
predicaments during their terms as head of the country’s sports
governing body.
Sports fans either love or hate his kind.
There’s no room for mixed feelings.
It is the duty of the PSC head to fire up the
athletes before they go into battle. More often than not, he ends up
collecting the ashes of their failures.
He is the hero of the advance stories and the
villain of the post-mortems.
Make no mistake, the heads of the PSC, past and
present, are chiefly responsible for the growth of local sports.
Whether growth is fast and good enough or not is
another story.
Every chairman of the PSC has his own legacy, an
indelible mark that helped mold Philippine sports to its current
state.
Whether it’s good or not depends on one’s
perspective.
Founding Chairman Cecilio G. Hechanova (1990 to
1992) focused on developing the national pool of athletes and
adopted a system of classification for them. He also
institutionalized the allowance adjustment for national pool
members.
He created the PSC Monitoring Team to monitor
the training activities and the implementation of physical fitness
testing to all athletes participating in the 1991 Manila SEA Games.
The events contributed to the successful hosting of the 1991 Manila
SEA Games, dubbed as the “Miracles of 1991,” where the country
placed second to Indonesia with 91 gold medals despite the
calamities that struck in the early months of the year.
Also held in the country under Hechanova’s
watch was the World Chess Olympiad of 1992, which brought over 200
participants to Manila.
It was also during his term when the Philippine
Center for Sports Medicine was launched. It has a gym to serve the
workout needs of Filipino athletes.
Hechanova also initiated the establishment of
the National Institute of Sports and revived the Private Schools
Athletics Association.
Chairman Aparicio H. Mequi (1992 to 1993)
focused on mass-based sports during his term, setting up Sports
Clinics at the barangay levels. It was during his administration
when the first Sports Summit was held in Baguio.
Consistent with the concept of unifying the
direction of the Philippine sports program, he organized a
Tripartite Meet involving the PSC, the Philippine Olympic Committee
and the National Sports Associations.
Chairman Gemiliano C. Lopez Jr. (1993 to 1996)
was best remembered for giving the retirement pay of the employees
of Project Gintong Alay—the flagship sports project of former
President Ferdinand Marcos.
He also focused on the improvement of the boxing
program, which is responsible for the world-class performances of
boxers Leopoldo Serrantes, Leopoldo Cantancio and Roel Velasco, and
later, the silver-medal win of Mansueto Velasco in the 1996 Atlanta
Olympics.
During his administration, the PSC also staged
the Philippine National Games, an open-style local version of the
Olympics that served as an occasion for the celebration of
Philippine sports.
Chairman Philip Ella Juico (1996 to 1998) was
known for his efforts to upgrade the management skills of the PSC
officials. He also instituted measures to professionalize the
bureaucracy and introduced and bred the culture of excellence within
the organization.
He institutionalized the Performance Evaluation
System and established the PSC Selection Board, which screens the
applicants for promotion and selects the most qualified among them.
Chairman Carlos D. Tuason (1998 to 2001) carried
out Administrative Order No. 352, “Approving and Directing the
Implementation of the Gratuity and Monthly Incentives Allowance Plan
for all living bemedalled athletes who participated in the Olympics,
Asian Games and World championships.”
The Philippine National Youth Games–Batang
Pinoy Program, the government’s centerpiece program for children
12 years and below, was launched during his administration.
He also initiated three Summer Camps aimed at
developing potential athletes and helping them attain their best
athletic performances through specialized training, lectures and
team-building activities.
Also during his term, special advocacy was given
to Mindanao through the holding of the first Mindanao Sports Summit,
which redirected their path toward a unified program while providing
equitable opportunities for every sports organization and people.
Also launched by his administration was the
Philippine Sports Talent Identification Program, a systematic and
scientific procedure for a nationwide search for young Filipino boys
and girls with the physical, motor and genetic qualifications to be
selected for training and future participation in local and
international sports.
Chairman Eric Buhain (2001 to 2005), a champion
swimmer during his athletic years, started his tenure with an
athlete-centered approach by having regular dialogues with the
athletes and setting up dormitories and an athlete’s lounge.
He also established linkages with companies and
agencies to provide the athletes with benefits ranging from health,
uniforms, career-education and travel discounts.
He also pursued the training and education of
coaches. It was followed by the implementation of R.A. 9064 or
Athletes Incentives Act, the first sports bill signed by President
Gloria Arroyo. The law grants incentives to medallists of the
Olympics, Asian Games, four-year world championships and SEA Games.
His administration also implemented R.A. 9155,
which transfers from the Department of Education to PSC the running
of Palarong Pambansa, the nation’s most prestigious athletic meet.
He piloted the TOP-START or the Trainers and
Officials’ Program-Sports Training for Athletes, a program that
seeks mainly to empower and encourage more people and LGUs to be
partners and stakeholders in sports.
Ramirez (2005 to present) brokered the signing
of the RP-China Sports Pact in which China vowed to help Filipino
athletes in “focus sports.”
The pact helped the country take the overall
championship in the 2005 Manila SEA Games.
Ramirez also transferred the national pool to a
more habitable Athletes Quarters in Ultra.
Ramirez will also be fondly remembered in the
PSC history for reinstating Class C athletes complete with their old
monthly stipend and meal allowances.
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