Bleak year for RP sports
January 1, 2001 | 12:00am
Success in sports, they say, is proportionate to the wealth of the nation. The money crisis, from which the country has not rebounded, continued to hound Philippine sports in 2000, from the grassroots to the training of elite athletes.
The year 2000 was no better than the previous years, and in many cases worsened as the exchange rate reached the P50-$1 and a nation awaited the result of the impeachment trial on its president.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics, the ultimate test of sports performance anywhere in the globe, showed that, in the age of information technology and sports medicine, the Filipino athlete is learning less and less about more and more.
Many now believe that the native Filipino will hardly excel in world sports given the country’s economic constraints vis-a-vis the advancement the rest of the world has gained.
If it was a blessing at all, Filipinos found new heroes not in the pure-blooded Pinoys but in a new breed broadly called Fil-foreigners.
They came in droves in basketball. Their presence was a welcome relief to fans looking for fast-paced, slam-dunking action on the mahogany court.
The proliferation of Fil-Americans, Fil-Tongan and Fil-Australians likewise alarmed no less than Filipino cagers and later the Senate, which conducted an inquiry and sent some of them back to their country of origin.
The MBA joined the bandwagon. The rash of Fil-foreigners boiled over to the PBL and the amateur ranks – the NCAA and UAAP. Many others invaded other sports.
Minus the Fil-foreigners, there is no bumper crop to talk about in 2000.
Still, for the record, the Philippine STAR sports section puts on centerstage the few sports heroes whose exploits here and abroad gave pride and honor to a nation in distress as well as the the major events, positive or negative, that created some impact on Philippine sports.
Her feat came like a whiff of fresh air for a country reeling from a series of debacles in the international sporting front. And Dorothy Delasin’s remarkable campaign on the US LPGA Tour on her rookie year will surely go down as one of the most cherished moments in Philippine sports.
Never mind if she is a Fil-American, having been born in Lubbuck, Texas in 1980 and raised in Daly City. Never mind if she spent her junior years campaigning in various tournaments in the US before going to Japan to win the Junior World Cup in 1993.
For Delasin did spearhead the Philippine team – thrice, first in the Jakarta SEA Games in 1996 (where she won the individual gold), then in the 1996 World Amateurs at Sta. Elena and in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games (where she helped the team win the bronze medal).
Those stints must’ve given her some hints of a good stead in the pro ranks, but it was not until her stirring victory in the 1999 US Women’s Amateurs that she knew she’s ready for the big-time.
However, the road to glory in the pro ranks wasn’t as easy as some had thought it to be. For Delasin struggled for her form, wrestled with her clubs and crackled in the face of the tough opposition that included the best players in the world.
But all that changed in the Giant Eagle Classic in July, an event Delasin ruled by beating veteran Pat Hurst in a thrilling sudden death to become the youngest player to win an LPGA event since LPGA Tour Hall of Famer Amy Alcott won the Orange Blossom Classic in 1975.
That victory was the major turning point for Delasin’s young pro career. Not only did it boost her confidence but also it anchored her bid in the prestigious Rolex Rookie of the Year honors where she beat the fancied Grace Park of Korea for the plum.
More than anything else, it enhanced Delasin’s bid of the PSA Athlete of the Year award.
In all, Delasin, born to Filipino parents Sonny and Salfe, made 17 of 26 cuts and recorded seven top 20-finishes. She closed out the season with $339,112 in earnings, ranking 25th on the season-ending money list.
The Bureau of Immigration first blew the whistle on Paul Asi Taulava, and later threw the book on other players masquerading to have Filipino lineage but couldn’t prove their claim.
They were supposed to be Fil-Ams who turned out to be "Fil-shams."
They became a big issue, their sudden influx in the country’s cage leagues even discussed in the Senate hall.
In the PBA, a case was brought to the court, games were postponed and heavy fines were meted out because of one Fil-sham in Sonny Alvarado.
But there are those who have proven themselves to be legitimate Fil-Ams. Among them are Dan Seigle, Nic Belasco and Rob Duat who helped San Miguel dominate the recent PBA season.
And the influx of Fil-Ams in the PBA may well continue in the years to come. In fact, seven Fil-Ams have already applied for the PBA Rookie Draft for the 2001 season.
Extensive preparations and high expectations turned into big frustrations as the country failed to win a single medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Twenty Filipino athletes took part in the quadrennial games, each one of them hoping to finally give the Philippines its first-ever Olympic gold, but in a field made up of the world’s best athletes in their respective sports disciplines, our athletes simply failed to deliver.
So much hope was placed on the broad shoulders of our boxers and taekwondo jins during the games held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, particularly on the four boxers out to continue the winning tradition of their elders. Boxing produced the country’s last three medals in the Olympics – Leopoldo Serrantes’ bronze in the 1988 Seoul games, Roel Velasco’s bronze in Barcelona in 192 and Mansueto Velasco’s silver in the 1996 Atlanta summer games.
"Medyo minalas talaga tayo sa Olympics," said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos "Butch" Tuason who, despite the debacle in Sydney, is far from losing hope that someday the Philippines would achieve its ultimate goal of winning an Olympic gold. "We cannot be beaten all the time. It has to stop somewhere."
Aside from boxing and taekwondo, the Philippines was also represented in athletics, diving, equestrian, rowing, shooting, archery and swimming. But like the boxers and the taekwondo jins, they never got close to a medal, simply consoling themselves with the once-in-la lifetime experience to compete against the very best.
Sports leaders came under fire during the year, starting with the Philippine Sports Commission, whose leadership was under investigation by the Senate commitee on youth and sports for "lacking a comprehensive sports program" and putting low priority on the welfare and training of athletes.
National sports associations saw their leaders toppled from power for various reasons. Players staged a revolt against the karatedo association president, who, they claimed hang on to power without election.
The weightlifting president was ousted by its chairman who charged the former of voting for defeated Philippine Olympic Committee presidential candidate Go Teng Kok.
The cycling president was also ousted by his vice president, who claimed there were no elections that installed him into power.
The soft tennis association president was also suspended for one month reportedly for not attending POC meetings.
Ironically, the NSA presidents were also staunch supporters of ousted POC president Cristy Ramos, and many wondered whether the move was a vendetta of those now in power.
But the biggest upheaval came in chess, where the National Chess Federationof the Philippines gained the nod of the Philippine Olympic Committee and later the Federation Internationale des Echecs to effectively reduce to extinction the old Philippine Chess Federation to become the sole governing for chess in the Philippines.
The promise that was the MBA remained like that – a promise – as the community-based league continued to be hounded by what league officials described as "birth pains" three years after it broke into the national consciousness with so much promise and fanfare.
But if one were to go over the league’s performance in the year just passed, one might consider it not a very encouraging season.
Diminishing interest, fight-marred games, spotty officiating and debris-throwing incidents marred the 2000 season that virtually relegated the victories of San Juan in the Fed-Ex Crossover Cup and in the national finals and Cebu’s triumph in the Intra-Conference Challenge to mere footnotes.
Hooliganism was graphically represented during the San Juan-Negros finale in the national championship when MBA commissioner Ogie Narvasa ordered Game Four of the finals suspended in the fourth quarter due to debris-throwing incident in Bacolod.
Charges of bum calls to favor San Juan burst forth with Narvasa, as chief of the league, caught in the middle of the controversy as observers blasted him for what they perceived as his (Narvasa’s) inconsistent decisions on suspending erring players.
But the league fined the Knights a record P304,000 for vandalizing their locker room at the Mail & More during their match against the Manila Metrostars in July.
There were also high points in the season, like when Iloilo made history by becoming the first local pro team to win an official overseas game when it beat Pampanga in Guam, and when heartthrob Vince Hizon made a keenly-awaited return in the league.
However, in a bid to finally create an impact like it did in its inaugurals in 1998 and perhaps to keep the league going, MBA officials decided to downsize the field for the 2001 season, meaning the original 14-team cast will now be reduced to just eight teams.
That seems to be best thing to do.
If not for Malcolm Tunacao, then year 2000 would have been a miserable one for professional boxing.
The 23-year-old Tunacao, a native of Mandaue City, remained as the only Filipino world champion after compatriots Gerry Peñalosa and Joma Gamboa blew hot and cold in their respective campaigns this year.
Tunacao wrested the WBC flyweight crown from Thailand’s Medgoen Kratingdaen Gym earlier in the year before defending the title against Japan’s Shoji Kobayashi via a draw last August.
Peñalosa lost in his bid to regain the WBC super-flyweight crown against Korean champion Injoo Cho in Seoul last January but bounced back by snatching the WBC International from Thai slugger Pone Saengmorakot last November.
Peñalosa retained the title with an equally-smashing TKO over Thailand’s Ratanachai Sor Vorapin last Dec. 2, lining himself up for another shot at the WBC title now being held by a Japanese.
Gamboa, for his part, won the WBC minimumweight title by beating Venezuela’s Noel Arambulet also last August. But only three months after that victory, Gamboa yielded the title to Keitarao Hoshino in Japan.
Manny Pacquiao defended his WBC international superbatamweight crown thrice this year, his last victim being Australian-based Lebanese Hamed Hussein last Oct. 14 in Antipolo City.
Two weeks after the Filipino Olympics came home empty handed from Sydney, a Filipina Paralympian came home from the same Australian city with a bronze medal in her possession.
It was a bronze that glittered like gold.
Adeline Dumapong, a physically-challenged powerlifter from the Ifugao Province, put the Philippines on the medal tally in the 11th Paralympic Games after winning third-place honors in her event at the Olympic Park’s Downes Pavilion.
Dumapong had a lift of 97.5 kgs in the women’s 82.5kg category and although she failed on her second try at 107.5kg, the gutsy Filipina succeeded on her third lift at 110kg to win the bronze.
"Alam kong mahirap manalo, pero ginawa ko ang lahat para mabigyan ng karangalan ang bayan," said Dumapong, who won the 75kg in the Paralympic Games qualifying tournament in Florida last February.
Earlier in the year, she also took the 82.5kg gold in the Malaysia Paralympiad and Asian Millennium Bench Press tournaments.
The Paralympics, the highest international competition of differently-abled athletes, is held every four years right after the Olympics.
Despite the absence of government support, Angelo Barretto kept the Philippine flag hoisted in the brave and daring world of car racing.
The 31-year-old Barretto won thrice and landed on the winner’s podium seven times in the demanding European Endurance Touring Car Circuit this year and ran away with the top rookie honors.
Barretto, a political science graduate of La Salle, did all these without the support of government bodies like the Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Tourism.
Instead, Barretto draws the much-needed support  morale and financial  from his parents and a couple of private firms like Arce Dairy. In his 2000 campaign, Barretto spent a total of $200,000.
"Some people say I’m stupid to spend so much and get nothing in return. But I had to do it and I’m happy with my achievements this year," said Barretto, who drives a $120,000 BMW carrying the colors of the Philippine flag.
"That’s why when I race in Europe, the other drivers there don’t know me as Angelo Barretto and instead refer to me as the Filipino driver," he said.
It eventually came to pass that San Miguel Beer seized from its long-time holder the highest supremacy in the Philippine Basketball Association.
A huge crowd at the Araneta Coliseum stood as witness as the Beermen made history, surpassing the previous league record of 13 championships owned by the defunct Crispa ballclub as they successfully defended their Commissioner’s Cup crown for their 14th title conquest versus the Sta. Lucia Realtors.
And the SMC ballclub would also make a successful title defense in the Governors Cup against Purefoods, completing yet another fruitful season to signal its reemergence as super power in the league.
The Beermen finished the campaign with a cumulative 40-18 win-loss mark, a .684 winning percentage which is the second highest in franchise history after their .704 (50-21) showing in their grandslam season in 1989.
Ramon Fernandez, Hector Calma, Samboy Lim and Co. may have long been gone, but Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle and their teammates look capable of keeping San Miguel’s red and white colors flying high in the next few years.
"Yes, I think we have a good chance in winning more championships for San Miguel with the team having these young, talented players in its fold. Nearly all of them are still in the 20s and the most important thing is that all of them are willing to make a sacrifice for the sake of the team," said Jong Uichico, who kept a personal record intact, preserving a clean slate of 4-of-4 in the finals.
It was the year’s most successful story at the local turf and racing fans are all but too excited to know how Silver Story will perform next year.
Justifying his role as the best two-year-old runner in the land, the talented colt by Conquistarose out of Northern Edge established a record by sweeping the Juvenile Colts championships both at San Lazaro and Sta. Ana racetracks, firming up his status among the top few hopefuls for next year’s Triple Crown.
So stirring was Silver Story’s romp that he dominated those events either in front of the pack or at the back of the field.
His last victory in the year, the Juvenile Championships for colts and fillies at Sta. Ana, most impressed the racegoers as Silver Story, who has won his previous big-time runs either in front or in second position, rallied from 8-10 lengths behind and won by five lengths.
That also spoke of the caliber of the jockey in Jonathan Hernandez, who has steered Silver Story to his uninterrupted campaign since he took over for the colt in July 25 when he piloted him to victory in an imported-flavored race at San Lazaro.
Hernandez, one of the most talented jockeys to have come out of the ranks, went on to become the year’s leading money earner with 194 first-place finishes, 50 wins more than Pat Dilema. Hernandez also had 156 second-place efforts and 102 third-place finishes.
Silver Story and Hernandez, who are fancied to partner again in next year’s Triple Crown where the colt will run as a three-year-old, closed out the season for owner Patrick Uy with earnings of P3.4 million in an eight-month campaign.
The year also saw super horse Real Top retire from competitive races. The colt, one of the finest gallopers to have graced the local horseracing scene, made his farewell run last Nov. 19 with regular partner Jesus Guce, Jr. performing the emotional ride over the very track  Sta. Ana  where he debuted as a novato winner on April 26, 1997.
Relegated to the background by compatriot and former national teammate Dorothy Delasin’s astounding feat, Jennifer Rosales remained an achiever in her own right as she became the first local-bred Filipina to have made it to the US LPGA Tour.
Although she has had a series of mediocre performances in her rookie year on the circuit, Rosales, whose best effort was 11th in the US Women’s Open in a stint marred by missed-cuts, still kept her tour card, then readily vowed to do better in the 2001 season in a bid to score her own breakthrough win on the tour.
She, however, came home to help brother Gerald win his first tournament as a pro as Jennifer caddied for the reed-thin former amateur hotshot in a dramatic victory in the Philippine Open golf championship at Riviera.
In one fleeting moment in August, Filipino cagers made a statement. It’s a statement, no question, they long wanted to deliver.
The PBA All-Stars delighted the hometown crowd as they routed an assembly of Asia’s best, pulling off an emphatic 101-81 win in the ABC-PBA All-Star Game at the Philsports Arena.
Nearly on the verge of quitting the sport he had embraced since he was a child, Buenaventura "Bong" Villamayor made a big turnaround to become the country’s fourth chess grandmaster.
And he did the remarkable feat in just two months, clinching his third and final GM result in July in the Equitable Card Invitational Classic here.
But it was his impressive stints abroad that anchored the fulfillment of his dream as he finished tied for first in the Vung Tau Intourco GM Circuit to gain his first GM norm, then scored seven of nine in the Category 10 event to tie for first again in the Zone 3.2A Zonal eliminations, also in Vungtau, Vietnam to gain his second GM norm.
That stint also won for him a slot in the World Championships although Villamayor fell down right in the first round.
Still, it was a great year for the bespectacled chesser, who became the fourth GM after Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas and Rogelio Antonio, Jr.
They say sponsors, or lack of them, have stymied the growth of pro golf in the country after Philip Morris, which supported the local circuit for 13 years, withdrew its sponsorship of the PM Golf Classic early this year.
The year 2000 was no better than the previous years, and in many cases worsened as the exchange rate reached the P50-$1 and a nation awaited the result of the impeachment trial on its president.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics, the ultimate test of sports performance anywhere in the globe, showed that, in the age of information technology and sports medicine, the Filipino athlete is learning less and less about more and more.
Many now believe that the native Filipino will hardly excel in world sports given the country’s economic constraints vis-a-vis the advancement the rest of the world has gained.
If it was a blessing at all, Filipinos found new heroes not in the pure-blooded Pinoys but in a new breed broadly called Fil-foreigners.
They came in droves in basketball. Their presence was a welcome relief to fans looking for fast-paced, slam-dunking action on the mahogany court.
The proliferation of Fil-Americans, Fil-Tongan and Fil-Australians likewise alarmed no less than Filipino cagers and later the Senate, which conducted an inquiry and sent some of them back to their country of origin.
The MBA joined the bandwagon. The rash of Fil-foreigners boiled over to the PBL and the amateur ranks – the NCAA and UAAP. Many others invaded other sports.
Minus the Fil-foreigners, there is no bumper crop to talk about in 2000.
Still, for the record, the Philippine STAR sports section puts on centerstage the few sports heroes whose exploits here and abroad gave pride and honor to a nation in distress as well as the the major events, positive or negative, that created some impact on Philippine sports.
Never mind if she is a Fil-American, having been born in Lubbuck, Texas in 1980 and raised in Daly City. Never mind if she spent her junior years campaigning in various tournaments in the US before going to Japan to win the Junior World Cup in 1993.
For Delasin did spearhead the Philippine team – thrice, first in the Jakarta SEA Games in 1996 (where she won the individual gold), then in the 1996 World Amateurs at Sta. Elena and in the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games (where she helped the team win the bronze medal).
Those stints must’ve given her some hints of a good stead in the pro ranks, but it was not until her stirring victory in the 1999 US Women’s Amateurs that she knew she’s ready for the big-time.
However, the road to glory in the pro ranks wasn’t as easy as some had thought it to be. For Delasin struggled for her form, wrestled with her clubs and crackled in the face of the tough opposition that included the best players in the world.
But all that changed in the Giant Eagle Classic in July, an event Delasin ruled by beating veteran Pat Hurst in a thrilling sudden death to become the youngest player to win an LPGA event since LPGA Tour Hall of Famer Amy Alcott won the Orange Blossom Classic in 1975.
That victory was the major turning point for Delasin’s young pro career. Not only did it boost her confidence but also it anchored her bid in the prestigious Rolex Rookie of the Year honors where she beat the fancied Grace Park of Korea for the plum.
More than anything else, it enhanced Delasin’s bid of the PSA Athlete of the Year award.
In all, Delasin, born to Filipino parents Sonny and Salfe, made 17 of 26 cuts and recorded seven top 20-finishes. She closed out the season with $339,112 in earnings, ranking 25th on the season-ending money list.
They were supposed to be Fil-Ams who turned out to be "Fil-shams."
They became a big issue, their sudden influx in the country’s cage leagues even discussed in the Senate hall.
In the PBA, a case was brought to the court, games were postponed and heavy fines were meted out because of one Fil-sham in Sonny Alvarado.
But there are those who have proven themselves to be legitimate Fil-Ams. Among them are Dan Seigle, Nic Belasco and Rob Duat who helped San Miguel dominate the recent PBA season.
And the influx of Fil-Ams in the PBA may well continue in the years to come. In fact, seven Fil-Ams have already applied for the PBA Rookie Draft for the 2001 season.
Twenty Filipino athletes took part in the quadrennial games, each one of them hoping to finally give the Philippines its first-ever Olympic gold, but in a field made up of the world’s best athletes in their respective sports disciplines, our athletes simply failed to deliver.
So much hope was placed on the broad shoulders of our boxers and taekwondo jins during the games held from Sept. 15 to Oct. 1, particularly on the four boxers out to continue the winning tradition of their elders. Boxing produced the country’s last three medals in the Olympics – Leopoldo Serrantes’ bronze in the 1988 Seoul games, Roel Velasco’s bronze in Barcelona in 192 and Mansueto Velasco’s silver in the 1996 Atlanta summer games.
"Medyo minalas talaga tayo sa Olympics," said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Carlos "Butch" Tuason who, despite the debacle in Sydney, is far from losing hope that someday the Philippines would achieve its ultimate goal of winning an Olympic gold. "We cannot be beaten all the time. It has to stop somewhere."
Aside from boxing and taekwondo, the Philippines was also represented in athletics, diving, equestrian, rowing, shooting, archery and swimming. But like the boxers and the taekwondo jins, they never got close to a medal, simply consoling themselves with the once-in-la lifetime experience to compete against the very best.
National sports associations saw their leaders toppled from power for various reasons. Players staged a revolt against the karatedo association president, who, they claimed hang on to power without election.
The weightlifting president was ousted by its chairman who charged the former of voting for defeated Philippine Olympic Committee presidential candidate Go Teng Kok.
The cycling president was also ousted by his vice president, who claimed there were no elections that installed him into power.
The soft tennis association president was also suspended for one month reportedly for not attending POC meetings.
Ironically, the NSA presidents were also staunch supporters of ousted POC president Cristy Ramos, and many wondered whether the move was a vendetta of those now in power.
But the biggest upheaval came in chess, where the National Chess Federationof the Philippines gained the nod of the Philippine Olympic Committee and later the Federation Internationale des Echecs to effectively reduce to extinction the old Philippine Chess Federation to become the sole governing for chess in the Philippines.
But if one were to go over the league’s performance in the year just passed, one might consider it not a very encouraging season.
Diminishing interest, fight-marred games, spotty officiating and debris-throwing incidents marred the 2000 season that virtually relegated the victories of San Juan in the Fed-Ex Crossover Cup and in the national finals and Cebu’s triumph in the Intra-Conference Challenge to mere footnotes.
Hooliganism was graphically represented during the San Juan-Negros finale in the national championship when MBA commissioner Ogie Narvasa ordered Game Four of the finals suspended in the fourth quarter due to debris-throwing incident in Bacolod.
Charges of bum calls to favor San Juan burst forth with Narvasa, as chief of the league, caught in the middle of the controversy as observers blasted him for what they perceived as his (Narvasa’s) inconsistent decisions on suspending erring players.
But the league fined the Knights a record P304,000 for vandalizing their locker room at the Mail & More during their match against the Manila Metrostars in July.
There were also high points in the season, like when Iloilo made history by becoming the first local pro team to win an official overseas game when it beat Pampanga in Guam, and when heartthrob Vince Hizon made a keenly-awaited return in the league.
However, in a bid to finally create an impact like it did in its inaugurals in 1998 and perhaps to keep the league going, MBA officials decided to downsize the field for the 2001 season, meaning the original 14-team cast will now be reduced to just eight teams.
That seems to be best thing to do.
If not for Malcolm Tunacao, then year 2000 would have been a miserable one for professional boxing.
The 23-year-old Tunacao, a native of Mandaue City, remained as the only Filipino world champion after compatriots Gerry Peñalosa and Joma Gamboa blew hot and cold in their respective campaigns this year.
Tunacao wrested the WBC flyweight crown from Thailand’s Medgoen Kratingdaen Gym earlier in the year before defending the title against Japan’s Shoji Kobayashi via a draw last August.
Peñalosa lost in his bid to regain the WBC super-flyweight crown against Korean champion Injoo Cho in Seoul last January but bounced back by snatching the WBC International from Thai slugger Pone Saengmorakot last November.
Peñalosa retained the title with an equally-smashing TKO over Thailand’s Ratanachai Sor Vorapin last Dec. 2, lining himself up for another shot at the WBC title now being held by a Japanese.
Gamboa, for his part, won the WBC minimumweight title by beating Venezuela’s Noel Arambulet also last August. But only three months after that victory, Gamboa yielded the title to Keitarao Hoshino in Japan.
Manny Pacquiao defended his WBC international superbatamweight crown thrice this year, his last victim being Australian-based Lebanese Hamed Hussein last Oct. 14 in Antipolo City.
It was a bronze that glittered like gold.
Adeline Dumapong, a physically-challenged powerlifter from the Ifugao Province, put the Philippines on the medal tally in the 11th Paralympic Games after winning third-place honors in her event at the Olympic Park’s Downes Pavilion.
Dumapong had a lift of 97.5 kgs in the women’s 82.5kg category and although she failed on her second try at 107.5kg, the gutsy Filipina succeeded on her third lift at 110kg to win the bronze.
"Alam kong mahirap manalo, pero ginawa ko ang lahat para mabigyan ng karangalan ang bayan," said Dumapong, who won the 75kg in the Paralympic Games qualifying tournament in Florida last February.
Earlier in the year, she also took the 82.5kg gold in the Malaysia Paralympiad and Asian Millennium Bench Press tournaments.
The Paralympics, the highest international competition of differently-abled athletes, is held every four years right after the Olympics.
Despite the absence of government support, Angelo Barretto kept the Philippine flag hoisted in the brave and daring world of car racing.
The 31-year-old Barretto won thrice and landed on the winner’s podium seven times in the demanding European Endurance Touring Car Circuit this year and ran away with the top rookie honors.
Barretto, a political science graduate of La Salle, did all these without the support of government bodies like the Philippine Sports Commission and the Department of Tourism.
Instead, Barretto draws the much-needed support  morale and financial  from his parents and a couple of private firms like Arce Dairy. In his 2000 campaign, Barretto spent a total of $200,000.
"Some people say I’m stupid to spend so much and get nothing in return. But I had to do it and I’m happy with my achievements this year," said Barretto, who drives a $120,000 BMW carrying the colors of the Philippine flag.
"That’s why when I race in Europe, the other drivers there don’t know me as Angelo Barretto and instead refer to me as the Filipino driver," he said.
A huge crowd at the Araneta Coliseum stood as witness as the Beermen made history, surpassing the previous league record of 13 championships owned by the defunct Crispa ballclub as they successfully defended their Commissioner’s Cup crown for their 14th title conquest versus the Sta. Lucia Realtors.
And the SMC ballclub would also make a successful title defense in the Governors Cup against Purefoods, completing yet another fruitful season to signal its reemergence as super power in the league.
The Beermen finished the campaign with a cumulative 40-18 win-loss mark, a .684 winning percentage which is the second highest in franchise history after their .704 (50-21) showing in their grandslam season in 1989.
Ramon Fernandez, Hector Calma, Samboy Lim and Co. may have long been gone, but Danny Ildefonso, Danny Seigle and their teammates look capable of keeping San Miguel’s red and white colors flying high in the next few years.
"Yes, I think we have a good chance in winning more championships for San Miguel with the team having these young, talented players in its fold. Nearly all of them are still in the 20s and the most important thing is that all of them are willing to make a sacrifice for the sake of the team," said Jong Uichico, who kept a personal record intact, preserving a clean slate of 4-of-4 in the finals.
Justifying his role as the best two-year-old runner in the land, the talented colt by Conquistarose out of Northern Edge established a record by sweeping the Juvenile Colts championships both at San Lazaro and Sta. Ana racetracks, firming up his status among the top few hopefuls for next year’s Triple Crown.
So stirring was Silver Story’s romp that he dominated those events either in front of the pack or at the back of the field.
His last victory in the year, the Juvenile Championships for colts and fillies at Sta. Ana, most impressed the racegoers as Silver Story, who has won his previous big-time runs either in front or in second position, rallied from 8-10 lengths behind and won by five lengths.
That also spoke of the caliber of the jockey in Jonathan Hernandez, who has steered Silver Story to his uninterrupted campaign since he took over for the colt in July 25 when he piloted him to victory in an imported-flavored race at San Lazaro.
Hernandez, one of the most talented jockeys to have come out of the ranks, went on to become the year’s leading money earner with 194 first-place finishes, 50 wins more than Pat Dilema. Hernandez also had 156 second-place efforts and 102 third-place finishes.
Silver Story and Hernandez, who are fancied to partner again in next year’s Triple Crown where the colt will run as a three-year-old, closed out the season for owner Patrick Uy with earnings of P3.4 million in an eight-month campaign.
The year also saw super horse Real Top retire from competitive races. The colt, one of the finest gallopers to have graced the local horseracing scene, made his farewell run last Nov. 19 with regular partner Jesus Guce, Jr. performing the emotional ride over the very track  Sta. Ana  where he debuted as a novato winner on April 26, 1997.
Although she has had a series of mediocre performances in her rookie year on the circuit, Rosales, whose best effort was 11th in the US Women’s Open in a stint marred by missed-cuts, still kept her tour card, then readily vowed to do better in the 2001 season in a bid to score her own breakthrough win on the tour.
She, however, came home to help brother Gerald win his first tournament as a pro as Jennifer caddied for the reed-thin former amateur hotshot in a dramatic victory in the Philippine Open golf championship at Riviera.
The PBA All-Stars delighted the hometown crowd as they routed an assembly of Asia’s best, pulling off an emphatic 101-81 win in the ABC-PBA All-Star Game at the Philsports Arena.
And he did the remarkable feat in just two months, clinching his third and final GM result in July in the Equitable Card Invitational Classic here.
But it was his impressive stints abroad that anchored the fulfillment of his dream as he finished tied for first in the Vung Tau Intourco GM Circuit to gain his first GM norm, then scored seven of nine in the Category 10 event to tie for first again in the Zone 3.2A Zonal eliminations, also in Vungtau, Vietnam to gain his second GM norm.
That stint also won for him a slot in the World Championships although Villamayor fell down right in the first round.
Still, it was a great year for the bespectacled chesser, who became the fourth GM after Eugene Torre, the late Rosendo Balinas and Rogelio Antonio, Jr.
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