"I’m not talented," said Tanquingcen candidly. "I was never recruited out of high school. I wasn’t drafted by any PBA team. I still haven’t proved myself as a coach. I just love basketball, playing or coaching. Only a handful of people get to do the job I’m doing so I consider myself very, very lucky. It’s the best job in the world. I’m doing what I love to do."
The youngest of three boys, Tanquingcen was nicknamed "Siot" because "sioty" in Chinese means "bunso." None of his brothers ever played serious hoops. One of them now works in Singapore. Tanquingcen owes his passion for sports to his father Wilson, the long-time Chinese Commercial News sports editor. His mother Chua Siok Bi is the warehouse manager of a bicycle importer.
Both his parents prefer to watch the PBA games on TV. Tanquingcen’s brother, cousins and friends provide moral support in the stadium. And of course, there’s Tanquingcen’s girlfriend Rica whom he plans to marry after the Fiesta Conference Finals.
Tanquingcen’s first coach was Vicente Chua at Philippine Cultural High School in Caloocan. Then he enrolled at the University of Santo Tomas and flunked a tryout for the varsity team under coach Fred Reyes in 1989. A year later, he tried out again, this time new coach Aric del Rosario took a chance on the pint-sized walk-on.
Tanquingcen played four years for UST and in 1996, applied for the PBA draft. There were about 30 rookie hopefuls and only two weren’t picked. One was a streetballer with no collegiate experience and the other was Tanquingcen. Marlou Aquino was the top draft choice that year. Two other picks, Rodney Santos and Bal David, now play for Ginebra whose coach happens to be one of the two odd-men out in the 1996 draft.
Although basketball was his consuming passion, Tanquingcen wasn’t too sure he could make a living out of it. He earned an accounting degree at UST and in 1995, passed the Board exams. If Tanquingcen found no place in hoops, at least he could be employed as an accountant.
Then fate worked its magic. Boybits Victoria was injured and Sunkist coach Derick Pumaren looked for a replacement from among the free agents in the Philippine Basketball League (PBL). Tanquingcen and Matt Makalintal were summoned to try out for the spot. Tanquingcen was signed to a one-month contract and later stayed as a Sunkist practice player in 1996. The next year, he showed up at a San Miguel Beer practice and asked if he could work out with the team. Coach Ron Jacobs said why not. Before long, Tanquingcen was in a San Miguel jersey, subbing for the injured Ruel Bravo. He played two years for the Beermen then moved to the Metropolitan Basketball Association. After a season, Tanquingcen was back on the San Miguel lineup as a playing assistant coach.
In his playing career, Tanquingcen hardly made waves. He averaged 1.1 points in 39 total games in four seasons. Tanquingcen hit a career-high 16 points in San Miguel’s 96-95 win over Sta. Lucia Realty for third place in the 1997 Commissioner’s Cup. Teammates Allan Caidic and Bong Alvarez combined for 58 points as Olsen Racela, Mike Mustre, import Agee Ward and Nelson Asaytono didn’t play.
Tanquingcen, 31, said it was a stroke of fate that brought him to Ginebra five games into the Fiesta Conference. Early this year, he was invited to coach the UST varsity and declined, asking for more time to think it over. Tanquingcen said if he accepted the UST job, he probably wouldn’t have been considered by Ginebra management.
Tanquingcen modestly described his coaching style as not his own but an amalgamation of what he learned from his mentors Jacobs, Chua, Joseph Uichico and del Rosario.
"Like coach Ron, I’m defense-minded," he said. "I tell the players one or two guys won’t make us win a game but it takes all five playing their roles on the court to achieve our goal. It’s teamwork that’s important. I also consult the players a lot like coach Jong does."
Tanquingcen said being small and a virtual unknown, he was hardly noticed by Ginebra fans when he took the coaching job. "In a way, I was lucky I wasn’t noticed because we had a rough start," he chuckled.
Asked if the players doubted his abilities at the onset, Tanquingcen confessed he struggled during the transition period. "I don’t know if they doubted me but it was difficult to adjust to the change in the beginning," he went on. "It was like getting to know you. At San Miguel, I was an interim head coach when coach Jong was assigned to the national team but it was a smooth transition because I’d worked with the players before. It was different at Ginebra."
Tanquingcen said it was particularly rough when Ginebra lost five in a row to welcome his arrival. "We lost our focus," he related. "We had to refocus. We had to forget the past. Win or lose, we had to deal with it. Eric (Menk) is a big Detroit Pistons fan and we likened ourselves to the Pistons because we’re also a blue-collar team. It took a lot of hard work and determination to make it to the Finals."
At hindsight, Tanquingcen said he wouldn’t be where he is now if not for the heartaches and pain he endured in finding his place in the basketball sun.
"If I didn’t go through all the hardship, I wouldn’t have learned what I know today," he said. "Fate brought me to Ginebra and fate brought Ginebra to the Finals."
Will fate end Ginebra’s seven-year title drought?