"I was very concerned with how I was going to continue my athletic career," he recalls. "To have that taken away. . . I just enjoyed it thoroughly. But I guess I look at difficulties as challenges. It brings out the competitive spirit in me!"
If you were to read Barredo’s resume, it puts full, able-bodied persons to shame, and reads like the accomplishments of three people. From his TOYM (The Outstanding Young Men) for Humanitarian Service in 1992, to the Apolinario Mabini Award for Business, to his having been a member of the boards of the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, Manila Jaycees Senate President and other duties and citations, you’ll wonder where he found the time and energy.
Today, Mike Barredo is also the president of the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently-Abled (PHILSPADA), and has the monumental task of taking our disabled athletics program to a higher platform, the international stage.
"The problem is that most people think of sports for the disabled as merely an exhibition-level sport," he says. "Even the athletes themselves ask why they should bother to train and be competitive when they’re already disabled. But that’s the whole point!"
The job ahead for PHILSPADA is more than running just on national sports association. In fact, it may actually outstrip the sheer number of functions of the Philippine Olympic Committee itself. First of all, the disabled have an even more challenging time in getting funding and recognition. They are trying, despite limited resources, to lay the foundation for an organization that will represent the diverse disabled sector in creating and sustaining grassroots development programs and training them for international competitions.
"Well, we don’t have much, but we try to help as much as we can. But you know, regular sports already have problems with funding; what more us? In PHILSPADA, we even include the deaf as part of our sports development program. In the Paralympics, they aren’t included."
Just to give you an idea, in the Olympics, all athletes in every sport are in the same qualification. Multiply that by the following: blind athletes have three classifications; wheelchair athletes, five (amputees cannot compete with polio victims, for example); cerebral palsy victims have eight. So the field is far wider. And the disabled can participate in virtually every sport, and even do so in sports created specifically for them, such as showdown (a form of pingpong for the blind) and goalball.
"Ultimately, we hope to become the National Paralympic Committee or the Philippine representative to the International Paralympic Committee," Barredo continues. "We’re already a member and affiliate. Eventually, we’ll be able to do more for the differently-abled here."
Putting aside the problems of funding, PHILSPADA also needs to overcome politics, a perennial problem in the Philippine setting, particularly if and when PHILSPADA becomes the Philippine Paralympic Committee, a powerful position politically. And they also need help in rating their athletes.
"We need the assistance of the Department of Health," he confesses. "We need opthalmologists to classify the blind, and orthopedic doctors to check many of the other athletes. Abroad, they are very strict in checking the strengths and weaknesses of Paralympians."
Barredo cites how some wheelchair athletes purposely perform badly in qualifying tournaments to land in weaker brackets, then are discovered to have stronger abdominal or leg muscles that give them unfair advantage over the rest of the field.
In the face of all these problems, Barredo remains optimistic. In the last Paralympics, held after the Sydney Olympic Games, the Philippines sent a delegation of six  headed by Barredo  with two athletes. They came home with a bronze medal in powerlifting, and some generous rewards from the PSC and POC.
"Kaya naman natin, e, if we set our mind to it. I look forward to the day when we can show all the disabled in our country that being disabled is not the end of the road. In fact, it will do even more to inspire people if our differently-abled athletes perform well. Everybody knows somebody or is related to somebody who is disabled. Imagine all the people we could help."
Illuminated by the fire of his indomitable will, Mike Barredo sees the future of PHILSPADA so clearly. I wouldn’t bet against him.