THE man at the helm of the Olympic movement
in the country has been invited as guest of honor in the SMC-PSA
Annual Awards on Jan. 18 at the Entertainment Hall of the SM
Mall of Asia.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose
‘Peping’ Cojuangco Jr. will be the keynote speaker during the
2-hour rites (3 to 5 p.m.) where boxing icon Manny Pacquiao
and seven other sports heroes will be bestowed the Athletes of
the Year award.
The PSA, the country’s oldest media
organization, has also invited San Miguel Corp. chief
operating officer and president Ramon S. Ang to deliver an
inspirational speech.
Joining Cojuangco and Ang in honoring the
top achievers of 2006 are other sports officials, among them
Philippine Sports Commission chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez,
commissioners Ritchie Garcia, Leon Montemayor, Joey Mundo and
Ambrocio de Luna, Games and Amusements Board chairman Eric
Buhain and International Olympic Committee representative to
the Philippines Frank Elizalde.
Along with Pacquiao, also to be honored as
Athletes of the Year are Doha Asian Games heroes Joan Tipon,
Violito Payla, Antonio Gabica and Rene Catalan, bowler Biboy
Rivera and billiards champions Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes and Ronnie
Alcano.
The 28-year old Pacquiao will also be feted
with the PSA Bayani ng Lahi award for inspiring the country in
two separate stretches last year with his back-to-back brutal
knockout wins over Mexican boxing legend Erik Morales.
Lovely karateka Gretchen Malalad and
Philippine Basketball League Chino Trinidad host the afternoon
affair supported by San Miguel Corp., SM Mall of Asia, PSC,
POC, Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), PBL, Welcoat,
Harbour Centre, Teletech, sportsman Hermie Esguerra, Air21,
NBN-4 and DZSR Sports Radio.
The program will be telecast on a delayed
basis over NBN-4, but will be broadcast live over DZSR Sports
Radio.
To be honored with major awards are
basketball stars James Yap (pro) and Kenneth Bono (amateur),
golfers Juvic Pagunsan (pro) and Dottie Ardina (amateur),
rider Santy Barnachea (cycling), jockey Jonathan B. Hernandez
(horseracing) and Real Spicy (horseracing).
The PSA President’s Award will be given to
mountain climbers Leo Oracion, Pastor Emata and Romy Garduce
for becoming the first three Filipinos to scale the peak of
Mt. Everest while Cyna Rodriguez, Mia Legaspi and Wesley So
are the recipients of the Tony Siddayao Awards.
The silver and bronze medalists in the last
Doha Asiad lead the personalities and entities to be given
citations.
Others to be honored are Florencio Campomanes (Lifetime
Achievement Award), Eugene Torre (Hall of Fame), the Billiards
and Snooker Congress of the Philippines and Amateur Boxing
Association of the Philippines (Most Outstanding NSAs) and
nine sports personalities who will be bestowed Posthumous
Awards.
