Another ailing Olympian

In a previous column, I wrote about Jimmy Sebastian who was once known as Southeast Asia's strongest man. However, after a series of heart attacks he is now bedridden and could hardly walk nor talk. While in Manila two weeks ago, I wanted to visit another good friend and "kababayan" who is also in the same predicament as Sebastian but my trips to the PBB house took a lot of my time. I'm talking about 1988 Seoul Olympian Leopoldo Serantes who is presently confined at the V. Luna General Hospital, suffering from lung abscess and pulmonary disease. Leo ended a 24-year medal drought for the Philippines in the Olympics when he won the bronze in Korea. It was the first boxing medal for the country since Anthony Villanueva won the silver in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

Leo's win ushered the era of Pinoy light-flyweights. Roel Velasco won the bronze in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics while his brother Onyok took the silver in Atlanta in 1966. I used to join Serantes and another boxing great Leopoldo Cantancio during their oval workout at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Also in our company was another world champion turned-criminal, William Magahin. Incidentally Cantancio and Magahin are also Ilonggos. Magahin was jailed last year when he held up a taxi cab in Manila. The latest news I got from ABAP officials is that Serantes is starting to recover but still needs financial assistance. At least Leo is in a better situation than Jimmy who is still not even half of what he used to be. "We hope the government come to the rescue of athletes that have once upon a time made our country proud" echoed pretty lady crew of Jollibee Robinson's, Chen Veloso, Jovie Abing and Tintin Sumayang.

Iloilo Hall of Fame

I was also in Iloilo to finalize with the provincial government our proposed National Masters Track and Field Championship set next month at the Iloilo Sports Complex. We discussed the project with complex manager Bombit Heler who showed me their Hall of Fame. Although Iloilo has many sports heroes, I noticed that the hall is half-empty. "Nanghambog ko kay Bombit about Cebu's own Hall of Fame, na wala nay lugar sa mga bag-ong inductees." I also told Bombit that only those athletes that have retired or have been inactive for five years are qualified to be enshrined in the Hall. Some of Iloilo legends I noticed were trackster Inocencia Solis, swimmers Haide Coloso and Nancy Deaño, my protégé former national marathon record holder Herman Suizo and one-legged triathlete Rudy Fernandez. Missing were basketball Olympians Paeng Hechanova and Pons Saldaña and 3-time Milo Marathon champion Jimmy Dela Torre. I also saw photos of Sea Games medalists John Lozada and Ernie Candelario to which I gave my two cents worth of advice to Bombit, that the duo are not yet qualified to be enshrined since they are still active and that maybe we could give them a citation to which Bombit agreed.

Lourdes Parish Run

We are in the final stage of our proposed Lourdes Parish Golden Anniversary 5K run. We are looking at the end of April as the new date of the race geared to drumbeat the 50th anniversary of the Lourdes Parish next year which is building an exact replica of the grotto in Lourdes France. We are also planning the M.Lhuillier Kwarta Padala 10K Run, the first running event to be staged by new CCSC chair Michel Lhuillier. Then watch out for the 3rd Cebu Mountain Trail Run in Kalunasan on May 28.