FIVE leading figures who played a major part in shaping Philippine sports will be feted with Lifetime Achievement Awards in the San Miguel Corporation-Philippine Sportswriters Association 2025 Awards Night on Feb. 16 at the Diamond Hotel Manila.
The choices of the country’s oldest media organization under its president Francis TJ Ochoa, sports editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, as Lifetime Achievers include the celebrated 1991 Philippine Davis Cup team, boxing’s beloved Elorde family, officiating guru Romeo ‘Romy’ Guevara, former commissioner and current weightlifting president Monico Puentevella, and Woman National Master Milagros ‘Mila’ Emperado.
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The quintet is the latest batch to be recognized with the special honor to be given out during the formal gala night co-presented by the Philippine Sports Commission with ArenaPlus.
Over the last five years, recipients of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the PSA include Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes, the late sports patron Eduardo ‘Danding’ Cojuangco, former Gintong Alay executive director Joey Romasanta, former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios, basketball legends Sonny Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez, Allan Caidic, and Samboy Lim, champion coaches Dante Silverio, Turo Valenzona, and Joe Lipa, along with track and field great Elma Muros-Posadas.
Heading the list of the 2025 honor roll are Olympic double gold medalists Carlos Yulo and young tennis sweetheart Alex Eala, who will be distinguished as the Male and Female Athletes of the Year in the two-hour celebration backed by major supporters Philippine Olympic Committee, MILO, Cignal, Premier Volleyball League, Philippine Basketball Association, Akari, Rain or Shine, Capital1 Solar Energy, and Acrocity.
Led by the talented trio of Felix Barrientos, Roland So, and Camoy Palahang, the Philippine Davis Cup team defied the odds by advancing to the World Group qualifier after beating world powerhouse Japan in the quarterfinals and routing China in the semifinals.
The team however, fell against Sweden for a spot in the World Group – the highest level of Davis Cup competition. Although without the former world No. 1 Stefan Edberg, the stacked Swedish team was composed of world-ranked players Nicklas Kulti, Magnus Larsson, Christian Bergstrom, and Rikard Bergh.
Even after the demise of its famous patriarch, boxing legend and Hall of Famer Gabriel ‘Flash’ Elorde, the family continued to support the sport through the efforts of the late Laura Elorde – the widow of the former world champion – and her children by promoting fight cards nationwide for almost five decades now, and producing future world title holders and contenders in the process.
Guevara for his part, was considered the country’s expert in basketball officiating. He worked in all of the major local leagues, from the old MICAA, the UAAP and NCAA, PABL, and the PBA, where he served as official, supervisor, and consultant. Now age 89, he was also a renowned referee internationally and taught his expertise in countries such as Qatar, Bahrain, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, among others.
Emperado was among the pioneers in women’s chess in the Philippines. A chemistry graduate at Mapua, she was a member of the country’s first all-women chess team that represented the Philippines in the 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel in 1976. Upon retirement, she established the Milo Checkmate Chess Clinic that is responsible for producing five of the Philippines’ Grandmasters including Wesley So.
Puentevella was a former commissioner of the PSC (1996-2001) before becoming the head of the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas. It was under his leadership that the country won its first ever gold medal in the Olympics behind protégé Hidilyn Diaz during the 2020 Tokyo Games. A former mayor and congressman of Bacolod, the 79-year-old product of De La Salle was inducted in the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Hall of Fame in 2022.
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