Salute to sports lover

There are many descriptions of former Northern Samar three-term Governor and 20-year Rep. Raul Daza who passed away at 91 last Oct. 12. He was a patriot, nationalist, brilliant lawyer, poli-tician with an impeccable record of integrity, staunch advocate of democracy and street parliamentarian who never compromised his principles. Gov. Daza served his country loyally and cam-paigned courageously against corruption in government at great personal risk.

Gov. Daza was as passionate in his love of country as his love for sports. In 1992, he began a 16-year tenure as ABAP chairman and last February, was elected ABAP vice-chairman. Before his involvement with ABAP, Gov. Daza owned a boxing stable called D’Diamonds with about 12 fighters, including Flash Elorde’s cousin junior welterweight Rocky Alarde, middleweight Terry Flores and bantamweight Bonnie Borromeo. That was during the administration of GAB chairman Jun Montano. When Gov. Daza ran for Congress in 1967 in a special election to serve the unexpired term of the deceased incumbent, he gave up his stable to focus on politics and do justice to his boxers who were entrusted to his friends active in the sport. He managed D’Diamonds for seven years. As it turned out, Gov. Daza lost in his first bid for Congress but in 1969, unseated Eusebio Moore, the same man who had beaten him two years before.

For years, Gov. Daza and I had memorable conversations on sports. He recalled visiting Bangkok with his fighter Borromeo when his UP high school classmate Gen. Ramon Farolan was with SEATO assigned in the Thai capital. Gov. Daza and Farolan were at ringside when Borromeo was knocked out cold by a Thai. He mentioned Japanese promoter Takafusa Kawarai, who was mar-ried to a Filipina, as the man who opened doors for Filipino fighters to earn paychecks in Japan. Gov. Daza remembered meeting former world middleweight titlist Ceferino Garcia at the Besa Boxing Arena in 1964 and talking about his bouts against Hall of Famers Barney Ross and Henry Armstrong. “For what he’s done for boxing, as a former world champion, as the inventor of the bolo punch, as the first man to floor Ross and who once drew with Armstrong, he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame,” said Gov. Daza.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Gov. Daza was present to give moral support to lightflyweight Mark Anthony Barriga. During the Games, Gov. Daza said the rules of exclusion are primitive and obsolete, batting for pro boxers to compete in the Olympics. That dream eventually came true.

On a personal basis, Gov. Daza often messaged to ask about sports schedules on TV and to exchange insights on boxing results. He was a big fan of Nonito Donaire and asked his then Con-gressman son Paul to author a resolution citing the Filipino Flash for his win over Nordine Oubaali to claim the WBC bantamweight title in 2021. Today, his legacy in politics is preserved by grandson Niko as Representative of the First District of Northern Samar. And his love for sports is immortalized in ABAP. May Gov. Daza rest in peace in God’s embrace.