TAGAYTAY CITY – Seven sports personalities will be part of the fifth batch of inductees into the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame tentatively slated on May 20.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Patrick 'Pato' Gregorio said the seven will join the 47 that were previously inducted since the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame was passed into law in 1999 under Republic Act No. 8757.
Gregorio declined to reveal the new inductees but said it was finalized last Monday by the selection committee that included himself, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Abraham 'Bambol' Tolentino, Games and Amusements Board (GAB) chairman Francisco Rivera, Xavier Virata of Ayala Foundation, Vovinam Federation of the Philippines secretary general Jop Malonzo, and Philippine Curling secretary general Jarryd Bello.
P500,000 cash incentive
The seven were part of the 75 nominated by the public and screened by a review and evaluation committee made of of veteran sports journalists in SPIN.ph editor-in-chief Dodo Catacutan, Quinito Henson of the Philippine Star, Al Mendoza and Jun Lomibao of BusinessMirror, and Ignacio Dee of Manila Standard.
Gregorio said the new Hall of Famers will receive P500,000 from the PSC as incentive.
“As early as nine months ago when I was appointed last July, I gave instructions with the support of the commissioners and [POC] president Bambol na buhayin ang Hall of Fame. This was a nine-month process,” said Gregorio in a press conference at the Tagaytay CT Velodrome that coincided with the opening of the Asian Track Championships.
Tolentino didn't reveal the identities of the inductees, but hinted that the new members of the Hall of Fame are from those who have retired from 2014 or earlier.
“Baka magtataka kayo kung bakit wala si ganito. Sa batas, kailangan retired na. Meron kasing hindi pa nagre-retire na deserving na sila papunta doon. Hindi pa sila retired,” said Tolentino.
Tolentino and Gregorio said they will also propose amendements to the law that will include other persons in sports to be part of the Hall of Fame, and not limited to athletes and coaches.
Under the current law, only coaches, athletes, and trainers with podium finishes in the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games, and Olympics, and world titles in the professional and amateur ranks are eligible for enshrinement.
“Ang isang pinropose din namin, we will try in the PSC and POC to endorse an amendment of the law na merong specific na ilang years na dapat retired, puwede bang not limited to athletes and coaches, puwedeng officials din. Maraming puwedeng i-amend ‘yung both Senate and Congress,” said Tolentino.
“For example, napagusapan din namin ng search committee and we discussed na dapat ang Hall of Fame moving forward, dapat lagyan na rin natin ng sports patron, dapat lagyan na rin natin ng sports media, dapat lagyan na rin natin ng officials,” said Gregorio.
Though enacted by law in 1999, the first induction ceremony was held in only 2010 with Simeon Toribio, Miguel White, Caloy Loyzaga, Ceferino Garcia, Pancho Villa, Gabriel Elorde, and Teofilo Yldefonso as part of the first batch.
Among those that were later included were Mona Sulaiman, Eugene Torre, Olivia ‘Bong’ Coo, Lydia De Vega, Paeng Nepomuceno, Robert Jaworski, Roel Velasco, Leopoldo Serrantes, and Paulino Alcantara.
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