MVP CAN STILL HELP PHL SPORTS EVEN WITHOUT POC TOP POST
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Thu, 01 Nov 2012
Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) will not challenge incumbent president Jose ?Peping? Cojuangco for the Philippine Olympic Committee top position. But the prominent sports patron, who is president of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) and chairman of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Philippines (ABAP), will continue to spearhead the country?s quest for an elusive Olympic gold medal in 2016 Rio Games.
SBP executive director Sonny Barrios told InterAKTV, ?That?s the direction of the MVP group, to continue the intensive program of all the group?s supported sports.? Pangilinan established the MVP Sports Foundation as a conduit for funding the different national sports programs he is helping.
An NSA official said ?MVP represents someone who lives up to the ideals of Olympism: more sports and less politics.? But he declined in the last minute to run as POC president in the November 30 elections.
The POC has a voting membership of 43, including national sports association heads, athletes? representatives Harry Tanamor and Marestela Torres and Frank Elizalde, the International Olympic Committee representative to the Philippines.
?I can help Philippine sports in a different capacity,? said Pangilinan, the financer of Smart Gilas Pilipinas basketball team. ?I must say, however, that I?m not turning my back at all on Philippine sports, that I remain committed to supporting it, that our MVP Sports Foundation will continue to extend time and resources to its orderly development, that our group stands ready to help the Filipino athletes in whatever manner we can. I ask for your kind understanding,? he said.
Smart Gilas coach Chot Reyes, the executive director of the MVP Sports Foundation, said that more emphasis through international exposure will be given to the Filipino boxers and taekwondo jins. The foundation has determined that these two combat sports will be the most likely source of a gold medal for the 2016 Olympics because of the weight categories in the competitions.
?The national pools of both boxing and taekwondo are continuously being trained and subjected to foreign competition. Our boxers just came from Taipei while our jins are now in Korea. Their NSAs are making sure they get the best coaching, training, nutrition and competition possible,? Reyes was quoted by interaksyon.com.
Pangilinan also supports taekwondo, badminton, cycling, tennis, running and football through his MVP Sports Foundation. He is the Chairman of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, from 1998 up to the present.
Pangilinan finished his elementary and high school at San Beda College and graduated cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He received his MBA degree in 1968 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the owner of ABC/TV5 network, Cignal Digital TV and Smart Communications.
He also serves as Chairman of Maynilad Water Services, Inc., Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, Medical Doctors, Inc., Metro Pacific Investments Corporation, Landco Pacific Corporation, Pilipino Telephone Corporation, Philex Mining Corporation, Manila Metro Rail Transit System and other big companies.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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