A gem from the grassroots

Politics, showbiz, basketball. Not necessarily in that order. These are the favorite pastimes of Filipinos. Basketball is to us what baseball is to Japan. We revere basketball with the same fervor and passion as the rest of the world reveres football.

Even with the presence of the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), its more prestigious precursor, the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), is still the premiere basketball league in the country -- the "Bayan ng Superstars." With all due respect, everybody knows that the finest cagers in the land play in the PBA.

One such superstar who's strutting his dominance inside the paint is the reigning Most Valuable Player (MVP), 6-6 Danny Ildefonso. Aside from winning last year's most coveted individual honor, the pride of Urdaneta, Pangasinan has also been judged the Best Player of the Conference in both this season's All Filipino and Commissioner's Cup. He was also the MVP of the All Star Game and again the frontrunner for the 2001 Big Prize.

A Product of the National University of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), his amateur career wasn't that stirring, alluding to the fact that the Bulldogs were frequent cellar dwellers. In the Philippine Basketball League (PBL), bannering for Burger Machine and Red Bull, he was somewhat overshadowed by other players. But he was good. His arsenal of moves gushed with vast potentials. He was a star?obscured, but a star. In the '98 PBA draft, his talents didn't go unnoticed. He was picked first overall by a team who excelled in nurturing talents - San Miguel Beer.

That was the start of a stellar PBA career. At the end of 1998, he was the Rookie of the Year. Two years later, he was MVP, the second youngest to be given the award (the youngest was Benjie Paras). In between were several championships that were the envy of many. But a career wouldn't be rosy without some minor pitfalls. At the onset of 2001, Ildefonso signed a lucrative 16-year P96 million offer sheet from the Tanduay Rhum Masters. The contract encountered a barrage of ammunitions that when all was said and done, Danny Ildefonso remained a Beerman.

Danny's childhhod was culled from the pages of rural folklore. In his words: "Nagtatrabaho sa bukid ang tatay ko, kaya madalas nandun ako, tumutulong, nagpapastol ng kalabaw." The fifth child among seven children, he was drawn to basketball the same way other Pinoy kids are drawn to the game. But unlike most Pinoy kids, he had the height so the game acted like second nature to him. Even without the amenities, "basketball court namin, sa lupa, hindi semento," he recalls wistfully.

Eventually his tall frame and extraordinary skills brought him to the capital paving the way for fame and fortune. And marriage. At only 25, he's already a doting dad to his two sons -- Shaun is four while the younger one, Sean is one and a half.

As half of the Beermen's much vaunted frontline (with Danny Seigle) and with a powerhouse supporting cast, Danny Ildefonso is again expected to carry the cudgels and lead San Miguel Beer to another much-fancied but magical title run in the Governors Cup. *

2001 Philippine SEA Games Campaign

Seeking refuge in a paltry yield

At the end of the Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 8-17, the Philippines slipped to fifth place among eight countries overtaken by Vietnam via a blitzkrieg in the indigenous sport of pencak silat. The Philippines pocketed 30 golds, 66 silvers, 66 bronzes. Vietnam took home 33 gold medals but only 34 silvers and 61 bronzes.

The Games were lorded over by the same three countries - Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia. Malaysia and Thailand seized more than a hundred golds each while Indonesia brought home 72.

Among the 28 sports disciplines that were played in Kuala Lumpur, only track and field, wushu, taekwondo, karatedo, billiard, and bowling produced at least two gold medals while the Philippine boxing team, which is the country's saving grace in the international battlefield failed to deliver a single gold medal. Bantamweight Arlan Lerio and featherweight Ramil Zambales settled for silvers, falling to their Thai counterparts in the gold medal rounds. Salvaging bronzes for the Philippines were flyweight Violito Payla, lightweight Larry Semillano, light welterweight Romeo Brin, welterweight Reynaldo Galido and middleweight Maximino Tabangcora.

The biggest medal hauler for the country was track and field, clinching eight gold medals, 11 silvers and four bronzes. Twenty-two year old Eduardo Buenavista was this year's lone double gold medallist by winning the steeplechase and 5000 meter run. Other gold medalists include Christabel Martes (marathon), John Lozada (800m), Eric Candelario (400m) and Fidel Gallenero (decathlon). Roy Vence and Allan Ballester proudly waved the flag for a 1-2 flourish in men's marathon while the grand dame of the SEA Games, Elma Muros Posadas produced a stunning victory in the grueling heptathlon in her swan song.

The much-hyped men's basketball team, bannered by MBA players, pulverized the competition in Southeast Asia (a region where football is a religion), defending their title in Brunei, this despite the bickerings of their officials prior to the Games.

Wushu, which was dropped from Brunei in '99, collected four gold medals aside from two silvers and four bronze medals. Filipino keglers also had one of their finest outings in the sportsfest in a decade striking for four golds, six silvers and a bronze medal after coming up with only one gold in the '97 Jakarta and '99 Brunei SEA Games.
Billiards captured two gold medals courtesy of wily bets Warren Kiamco and Antonio Lining in 15-ball and nine-ball pool, respectively, drawing inspiration from the leadership of Efren "Bata" Reyes who skipped the lucrative US Open to rally his troops in Kuala Lumpur with himself earning a silver via a loss to Kiamco in the 15-ball finals.

Sports officials lauded the results as an indication of the "resurgence of the Filipino athlete," despite obtaining the lowest harvest since 1989 and the heartbreaking shutout in boxing. The 30 gold medals were 10 golds short of the target 40 but the leaders justified the "silvers" as "66 chances" for the gold medal, overlooking the reality that in international competitions, gold is the only medal that matters in the standings, never silver.

For her part, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was satisfied with the fifth place finish and announced not to revamp the current Philippine Sports of Commissioner Board, an indication of bleaker days ahead for Philippine sports. *