MANILA, Philippines – Nine athletes and the 1954 Philippine basketball team will be formally enshrined in the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame tonight in a historic ceremony with Chief Justice Reynato Puno as guest of honor at the Maynilad Hall of the Manila Hotel.
Late boxing greats Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde, Francisco ?Pancho Villa? Guilledo and Ceferino Garcia and Olympic heroes Jose ?Cely? Villanueva and son, Anthony, and Teofilo Yldefonso, Simeon Toribio, Miguel White and Caloy Loyzaga and the national cagers who finished third in the World Championship in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil are the first group of athletes that will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
?I hope they will be looked up to as models for our future heroes,? said Philippine Sports Commission chair Harry Angping, vice-chair of the Hall of Fame Organizing Committee, during the PSA Forum yesterday.
?We are happy knowing that we are starting something good by honoring this distinguished batch of athletes.?
Republic Act 8757 which was enacted in November 1999 calls for the establishment of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame.
Except for Garcia, Angping said immediate family members of all the awardees and some members of the basketball team will be on hand to witness the enshrinement and receive the P100,000 incentive for each athlete from the PSC.
Each member of the 1954 basketball team will also be getting P50,000 as incentive, Angping said.
The awards show is sponsored by Smart-PLDT, Oishi Liwayway Marketing Corporation, Scratch-IT Pacific Online Corporation and the Filipino-Chinese Amateur Athletic Federation.
The Hall of Fame organizing committee is headed by Arturo Macapagal of the Philippine Olympians Association. Also part of the organizing committee is former Pangasinan Rep. Ranjit Shahani of the House Committee on sports, who was one of the original proponents of the bill creating the Hall of Fame, Tagaytay Mayor Abraham Tolentino of cycling, Red Dumuk and Philippine Sportswriters Association president Teddyvic Melendres.
Angping is hoping that the Hall of Fame program continues even after his term. The PSC chair is pushing that the Hall of Fame induction be held every two years.
?This will be a big injustice for our athletes if this doesn?t push through,? said Angping.
Angping is also planning to put up the Sports Hall of Fame Museum at the ground floor of the PSC Building inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex aside from strengthening its library resource.
?The PSC lacks records and we are hoping to address that,? said Angping, adding that those who were nominated but did not fail to get the two thirds vote required for enshrinement may be nominated again in the next ceremony.
?We are opening this up to as many nominees as possible,? Angping said. Adding glamour to the Filipiniana-themed affair hosted by sportscaster Quinito Henson are singer Pilita Corrales and RP poomsae team members Camille Alarilla, Rani Ann Ortega and Janice Lagman.
