How are inductees to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame chosen?
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 25 Nov 2018
The Philippine Sports Commission has just enshrined the third batch of sports greats to the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame without fanfare Thursday night at the Philippine International Convention Center. Except for the formal induction ceremony to honor Filipino athletes, coaches and trainers, nothing much had been reported in the media about the enshrinement,
Why, the PSC even had to buy half page advertising space from several newspapers to announce the selection of the 10 inductees who have already been voted upon. How many had been nominated, sino-sino ang mga ito and how the final list was arrived at, nobody knew.
Section 4 of Rep. Act No. 8757, the law which created the Philippine Sports Hall Of Fame provides that a screening committee shall be set up by the PSC to accept nominations and screen nominees. The committee shall be composed of the following: Chair of the PSC as chairman, president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, vice chairman; chairman of the Games and Amusements Board, member.
Other members are two members of the POC accredited national sport associations who will be selected by the general assembly and two members from the private sector who shall be selected by the PSC board sitting en banc upon recommendation by relevant groups and individuals.
RA 8757, authored by basketball?s living legend and then Sen. Robert Jaworski, was actually passed and signed into law by President Joseph Estrada on November 25, 1999 but was not implemented until 11 years later when the PSC, officials of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) and the private sector engaged in sports pushed to finally give honor to the Filipino athletes, coaches and trainers who have distinguished themselves in their particular field sports.
This piece is not to undermine the selection of the 10 additional members of the Philippine Sports HOF composing the third batch of the inductees are all deserving to be enshrined, but, again, we also have athletes who, brought honors and respect to the country and the Filipino in the old Far Eastern Games, acknowledged as precursor of the Asian Games like this third batch and those comprising the first and third batches.
No one, indeed, can question sprinter Lydia de Vega-Mercado and discus thrower Josephine dela Vina (athletics); former Sen. Ambrosio Padilla and Loreto Carbinell (basketball); Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong" Coo and Lita dela Rosa (bowling); Erbito Salavarria (boxing); and Ben Arda (golf) inclusion in Philippine Sport Hall.
De Vega-Mercado, Asia?s fastest woman in the 80s and early 90s, Dela Vina, Padilla and Carbonell have all carried the country?s colors in several Olympic Games, Olympic Games Asian Games, continental and world championships.
Nepomuceno, Ms. Coo and Ms, dela Rosa are multiple bowling World Cup champions, while Codi?era helped the Philippines finish third in the 1966 World Amateur Baseball championship in Hawaii and Arda, known as Bantam Ben and the Toy Tiger because of his small physique, was the first Filipino to qualify for the U.S. Masters Tournament and the US Open Championship, while Salavarria was former WBC, WBA and Lineal Flyweight Champion.
They brought to 37 the total number of Hall of Famers, including 10, making up the first batch of honorees -- Gabriel ?Flash? Elorde, Francisco ?Pancho Villa? Gilledo and Ceferino Garcia of boxing; and Olympians Jose ?Cely? Villanueva and his son, Anthony, and Teofilo Yldefonso, Simeon Toribio, Miguel White; and Caloy ?The Big Difference? Loyzaga; and the national basketball team who claimed 3rd place in the 1954 World FIBA Championship.
And the second batch of 17 composed of Grandmaster Eugene Torre (chess); sprinters Mona Sulaiman, Inocencia Solis and Isaac Gomez (athletics); Felicisimo Amon (tennis); Kurt Badhmann, Ed Ocampo and Mariano Tolentino (basketball); Haydee Coloso-Espino, Jacinto Cayco, Mohammad Mala, and Gerardo Rosario (swimming); Raymundo Deyro and Johnny Jose (tennis; Martin Gison and Adolfo Feliciano (shooting); and Salvador Del Rosario (weightlifting).
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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