When I asked Manny Lopez if he would step down from the presidency of the ABAP late last year, he categorically told me “only if those who will succeed me are really sincere and capable.”
The ABAP election resulted in the chairmanship of telecommunications czar and avid sportsman Manny V. Pangilinan of the giant Smart Communications firm, and his trusted lieutenants, Ricky Vargas of PLDT as president and Patrick Gregorio of Smart Sports as secretary-general. Lopez accepted the post of vice-president.
It?s obvious that Lopez believes Pangilinan & Co. have their hearts in the right place. Recent events indicate he?s right.
The new set of leaders assumed office last January 1. The first working day of the year was January 5 and the following day, the three top leaders of the association trooped to the Cantada Sports Center in Taguig to watch “Fistorama,” the only amateur boxing show on Philippine television.
Chairman Pangilinan was all praises for the dedication and tenacity of the boxers whose ages ranged from 12 years old to their late teens. But he also got first hand information on what needs to be done.
If it had been someone else, he would have entertained thoughts about resigning after that.
Instead, MVP, as he is widely referred to, dispatched Vargas and Gregorio the following day to a whirlwind 4-city tour across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. They were accompanied by immediate past secretary-general Roger Fortaleza and support staff Art Aro, Martin Arenas and Jay Agbayani.
First stop was Baguio City where the national boxing training center is located. There the group held a free-wheeling dialogue for a good two hours with the boxers, trainers and coaches (including the 2 Cuban coaches hired by the past administration).
A lunch with Mayor Peter Rey Bautista followed, with President Vargas and the Mayor coming to terms for the formalization of the latter?s scholarship program for boxers, something which Vargas had actually been thinking of institutionalizing country-wide. Mayor Bautista?s family owns the University of Baguio and the good mayor revealed that the scholarship program for boxers had been started by his grandfather years ago.
The ABAP group flew back the same afternoon, and then left again the following morning, for Davao, Cebu and Bacolod in a matter of one and a half days.
They were met in Davao by PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez who personally drove them straight to the Almendras Gym. There they saw a gym and dormitory for boxers in urgent need of major repair and refurbishing. Vargas indicated the ABAP will undertake said repairs.
At lunch, they met with Mindanao stakeholders including Vice-Gov. Manny Pi?ol of North Cotabato, Gene Rose Tecson, representing the Panabo city boxers of ex-Cong. Tony Boy Floirendo, Rey Golingan, who owns the gym where Manny Pacquiao used to train as an amateur and several others including the local media.
After lunch, they again boarded the PLDT jet provided by Chairman Pangilinan for Cebu. They went straight to the ALA Gym of Tony Aldeguer then to the RWS Gym of Wakee Salud. Although both are known as professional boxing promoters/managers, they gave valuable insights into some of the issues and concerns the ABAP was going to face. Aldeguer actually had a stable of amateur boxers until a few years back.
A dinner with Cebu media followed after which the group repaired to their hotel for a few hours of sleep. Early the following morning, Vargas and Gregorio were accompanied by City Councilor “Yayoy” Alcoseba to a tour of the Cebu City Sports Center at the Abellana High School to inspect the boxing gym and a dormitory which could house a couple of hundred athletes.
At around 11 a.m. they were off to Bacolod City, where the National Amateur Boxing Championships are slated to be held Jan. 17 to 23. Cong. Monico Puentebella, Philippine Olympic Committee Chairman personally met and drove the group to the venue of the tournament, the NOMPAC.
After a sumptuous lunch hosted by Cong. Puentebella, the group was briefed about the program of activities for the national tournament, which is expected to lure over 400 amateur boxers from all over the country.
Asked where they get their energy for such a grueling schedule, Vargas replied “from our chairman. This is nothing compared to the schedule he keeps. But you don?t feel tired and instead get invigorated when things get done.”
“We got valuable suggestions and inputs from different sectors. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that chairman Pangilinan?s plan to put up regional training centers in key cities instead of bringing all promising boxers to Baguio was warmly embraced by everyone.”
Vargas added that “we also delivered the message that even if the top leadership in the ABAP is identified with Smart Communications we are not here merely as sponsors or benefactors. We intend to lend our corporate expertise to pursue the programs needed to realize the quest for the first Olympic gold. We would also like to partner with other like-minded entities and individuals towards the fruition of that goal.”
Indeed, things seem to be rocking with ABAP.
