Who’s the boss? Of course, you know him.
by John Pages
Matchpoint
Sun Star Daily Cebu
Tommy Osmeña is no athlete. Stare down at his belly.... and you know what I mean. But after listening to the smayor last week, this I conclude: He loves sports. For over 12 years since Joy Young and Koko Holganza juggled power over city sports, I’ve been involved in tennis. Not once do I recall sitting on a round-table meeting the mayor over sports. Sports? Tommy? Nah. He’ll delegate it, leave it to whoever-Jonathan Guardo-is in charge.
Not today. Not last week. Not anymore.
Over slices of salami, salmon, T-bone and tenderloin steak at Chez Lucie Restaurant in Banilad last Wednesday lunch, I finally sat down with Mr. Mayor. For how long? Two hours. Two hours? Yes. He gave an impromptu speech. He answered every question hurled at him. He offered coaching tips like Pat Riley would his Miami Heat.
Sports? Tommy? Two hours?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
The mayor occupied the center seat. To his left were Michel Lhuillier and Councilor Jack Jakosalem. To his right sat Councilors Yayoy Alcoseba and Glena Bontuyan. I sat as tennis director; so did Boojie Lim for chess, Glenn Soco (volleyball), Wakee Salud (boxing), Ricky Dakay (football), Andot Rubi (cycling/biking), Jessica Jawad-Honorides (table tennis), Juan Uy (swimming), Mark Aliño (weightlifting), Ben Miranda and Lolito Sy (bowling), Andie Marte (scrabble), Tony del Prado (taekwondo), Ramon Vidal (adventure sports), Dondi Joseph and Siegredo Velasquez (archery), Ryan Rivera (gymnastics), Edward/Eleanor Hayco (dancesport).
What did I see? One man.
After Dondi Joseph finished his 15-minute presentation on archery, after Glenn Soco raised his hand and asked about volleyball, after Andot Rubi spoke of his dream of building a biking track at the SRP, it wasn’t the CCSC commissioners (Rolly Diorico, Alex Paquiao, and Nimrod Quiñones) or Councilors Jakosalem, Alcoseba or Bontuyan, or the new chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission Michel Lhuillier who spoke.
What did I see? One man. Tommy Osmeña.
First, he spoke about the need to reach out to the masses. “sI want you to spread out your sports to as many children and players as possible. I want numbers,” he said. “Instead of concentrating on the elite, let’s recruit thousands.”
The mayor recalled his boyhood days: “I’m not really into sports myself,” he confessed. “But I remember when I was a little boy and my dad was president of the Philippine Table Tennis Federation, he’d bring me along. My dad was amazed at the Japanese. They had the best ping-pong players in the world. Why? While we only had a few hundred, they had 80,000 players. Imagine choosing 10 players out of the 80,000!”
Second, he said, “Division is OK.” The mayor’s example went like this: Group A started out with 100 members. Years pass and 25 members are unhappy.
They dislike the sports head. They want to quit and form Group B. “Is this bad?” the mayor asked. “No.” It’s fine to have two groups. What’s bad, he explained, is if you force all 100 members to be in one disunited group.
Third, he spoke about the SRP. Two football fields and a baseball/softball diamond will soon rise at the SRP. “Any other sports,” the mayor asked. “That needs space in the 240-hectare SRP?”
I raised my hand. “How about tennis, mayor?” He nodded. “Clay-courts are ideal there because of the kind of soil,” he said. Glenn Soco asked for beach volleyball rectangles. Yes. Dondi Joseph asked for archery fields. Yes. Andot Rubi asked for a biking/cycling track. Yes.
Ricky Dakay, the appointed football director, sat beside me contented. He didn’t need to ask. A few nights earlier, they dined and the mayor assured him of at least two grass rectangles. “I’m sending my tractors there to start,” Ricky told me. “We’ll be done soon.”
The SRP. It’s the South Reclamation Project. But Councilor Jack Jakosalem has a brilliant idea. Let’s call it the Sports and Recreation Park!
Fourth topic: taxes. “Any tax, be it personal, business or corporate, so long as the director is the signatory, would go to his credit,” the mayor said. A standing ovation almost ensued. What does this pledge mean? It means that, for example, if Ricky Dakay’s construction firm, one of Cebu’s biggest, paid P3 million in city taxes this year, he gets the same figure – P3 million-for football. Wow. This is big news. Good news.
What did I see?
Finally, a sports boss.
KUDOS to Cebu's Sports Boss.
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