IF THE Philippines finally lands the elusive gold medal in the Beijing Olympics, an obscure spot in North Cotabato province could go down as the place where the great hunt started.
But how come nobody is talking about Magpet?
Because it cannot hold a candle to the provincial capital of Kidapawan when it comes to commerce and traffic?
Magpet may indeed be obscure as M’lang, a quiet tree-lined municipality at the edge of the great Liguasan Marsh whose only claim to fame could be its being the poor place where his schoolteacher parents raised North Cotabato Gov. Emmanuel Pi?ol.
Magpet indeed doesn’t fit as a launch-off stage for a noble undertaking.
But listen. They are holding the 1st Mindanao Invitational Amateur Boxing Tournament Aug. 27 to 31 in Magpet.
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The tournament itself doesn’t seem to stir excitement because doing it in super cities of Davao or General Santos appeared to be the better option.
Practically no mention in the sports section of the countries’ major dailies, not a faint plug in any of the big television channels.
The Inquirer has therefore requested its Cebu-based boxing writer Salven Lagumbay to fly to Magpet.
“Competing teams come from Davao del Norte and Panabo City of Congressman Tonyboy Floirendo,” Lagumbay reported yesterday. “Other contingents are from Davao City of Mayor Rudy Duterte, Sarangani Province of Gov. Miguel Dominguez and Mayor Joel Lopez, Digos City of Mayor Boy Latasa, Bohol of Gov. Erico Aumentado.”
That’s not a very big field, but host North Cotabato is fielding a total of three teams.
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Here’s the catch. All eyes will be on the North Cotabato mainstays because, unlike their rivals from the neighboring provinces, these simonpures have undergone special training.
They are the first batch to be initially handled by Cuban coach Honorato Espinosa.
The North Cotabato boxers may not even make it to the upper top half of the medal tally, going by the limited time the Cuban master, who produced his country’s first boxing gold in the 1972 Munich Olympics, had looked after them.
Espinosa, in case you were not listening when Gov. Pi?ol was trying to sell him here, went on to produce a total of 27 gold medals for Cuba in World and Olympic boxing expeditions.
Espinosa has been quietly working here for the past two months, after his services were personally requested by Gov. Pi?ol from Cuban boxing officials in a trip to Havana last March.
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Pi?ol went to Cuba as representative of the League of Provinces of the Philippines whose members, numbering close to 70 governors, have decided to do their share in national sports development.
And, maybe for the first time in the Philippines, the sports program of these provincial heads will lead credence to what would be called a truly relevant grassroots talent discovery and development.
The field in Magpet, mostly raw but pure, should provide substance to the dream of sincere, full-scale grassroots development which most national sports leaders regularly encounter only in empty press releases.
Noisy publicity and talkative leaders often beat national athletes to center stage.
Maybe this is the reason the involved provincial governors don’t seem to mind if they had spent a fortune in fielding teams, with practically no credit or mention in the press.
It might as well go that way: quietly but very effectively.
You see, Se?or Espinosa, a silent hard worker, appears certain these obscure efforts should bear golden fruits in the long run.
Espinosa is set to pick his first batch of national trainees from the Magpet meet.
And whether the members of the well-publicized, if often noisy, national sports hierarchy like it or not, these new, pure talents would be powers to reckon with in forthcoming national boxing eliminations.
From Magpet, the road may lead all the way to the Olympics.
