MANILA, Philippines - My column last week on the Philippine Institute for Sports (Philsports) drew reactions from newly appointed Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping and former PSC chairman and Asian Games veteran Dr. Aparicio Mequi. Both gentlemen represent two different eras: Mequi was appointed in 1992 while Angping, of course, was named chairman just three weeks into 2009, or a difference of 17 years.
In my column last week, I mentioned Philsports was never meant to be a degree-granting institute. If it were to grant degrees, then it would be a school that should rightfully be placed under the supervision of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
Mequi wrote to say that it was his idea for Philsports to offer graduate degrees on the advice of the CHED Technical Panel for Teacher Education (TPTE), of which he is member as chairman of the Sports Management Committee.
Mequi, who has plenty to say about the planned honorary doctorate degree in sports and human kinetics for Manny Pacquiao, says the proposal was NOT for Philsports to directly award the degrees. The degrees were to be granted by the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) with which the Philsports has forged various memoranda of understanding (MOU).
Recalling the background of the MOUs, Mequi emphasized that a tripartite MOU was forged among Mindanao State University (MSU), Foundation University (FU) and the PSC-PSI. It has to be noted that both MSU and FU have already been granting graduate degrees in physical education (PE) and sports long before the law granting CHED the right to supervise tertiary level institutions was passed.
Under the Mequi plan, the degrees in PE and sports would be granted to coaches by MSU and FU. Philsports is to provide the necessary resources which MSU and FU will need to implement the program: lecturers from overseas who will conduct classes from their foreign locale through teleconferencing of Philsports. The latter will also provide the necessary library and sports information center worthy of graduate studies.
The diplomas and certificates will not be awarded by Philsports but by HEIs which are allowed to grant such diplomas and where the students are enrolled.
Mequi added that for Metro Manila students, he recommended that Philsports forge a similar MOU with the Philippine Normal University (PNU) so that students from the National Capital Region can enroll at PNU but attend classes at Philsports to make use of the latter’s teleconferencing facilities, library, etc.
The set up therefore showed there was never any intention for Philsports to offer by itself, graduate degrees to coaches who need such courses to elevate and enhance their professional status. The idea was for Philsports and PNU to sign the MOU soonest to enable operations of Philsports to go full blast by summer. The change in PSC chairmanship has however delayed the process.
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A column of three weeks ago was mysteriously cut because of some technical glitch. By the time it got to my editors, it did not have the following short announcement for sports lovers and food connoisseurs. On Jan. 20, Rey Bautista, former De La Salle varsity basketball team captain, track and field athlete and softball player, joined hands with fellow Lasallian Lito Domantay to forge the team up between the latter’s 7th Note and Bautista’s Tito Rey. Bautista, who founded Kamayan and Tito Rey’s, proudly says there is now a Tito Rey’s meat kitchen for lunch and dinner and a 7th Note Bar at night. The two establishments blend well with the golf driving range at Makati Golf Club and the Lasema family spa. Bautista says he will have a Valentine’s Heart on Fire special package featuring spicy food. For the benefit of food and sports lovers and the fire department (which may be needed to put out that hot fire in one’s throat after tasting these dishes), Bautista’s latest project is along Malugay St., Bel Air Vllage, beside the Ospital ng Makati.
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Another Bautista, Jed, son of Chito and Minky, and nephew of Rey, has reason to be happy. Jed, team student manager of the De La Salle University (DLSU) golf team, says that the DLSU squad won the Second National Intercollegiate Golf Championship in runaway fashion at the expense of archrival Ateneo. The young Bautista emailed us to say that “truly, golf is a sport where success is never a matter of opinion. There are no cases of referees making controversial calls or judges asserting their respective personal biases. To win a golfing tournament means to irrefutably be considered as the best for the duration of the competition. In addition to Bautista, the following, among others, comprise the championship contingent: Ferdie Atendido (team manager), coach Jun Cedo, Justin Limjap (team captain) and Charles Hong (co-captain).