Sports patron Lina revives Padyak Pinoy

MANILA, Philippines – After a one-year absence, Padyak Pinoy hits road again next month with the country’s top cyclists battling it out for top honors in individual and team competitions.

Bert Lina, also a patron of basketball and golf and now the chairman emeritus of PhilCycling, is reviving the summer odyssey on wheels, which took a leave of absence last year.

Padyak Pinoy will be organized by Dynamic Outsource Solutions, Inc., one of Lina’s firms under his Lina Group of Companies.

 “Thanks to Mr. Lina, we are bringing the Padyak Pinoy back this summer with the same exciting and competitive flavor its predecessor, the Tour, has been annually providing Filipino sports fans,” said DOS-I president and Tour organizer Gary Cayton.

In 1998, Lina joined the Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) via his Laguna Lakers team, which also represented the Philippines to several Asian tournaments such as the Asian Basketball Confederation in 1999 and the Jones Cup in 2000 and 2001, among others.

After the MBA folded up in 2002, Lina’s FedEx firm bought the franchise of Tanduay in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). After seven years in the pro loop, Lina’s team has underwent several major player changes and product branding from FedEx to Air21, and now Burger King.

 “Mr. Lina gets a natural high seeing his team play in the PBA. I guess every team owner feels that way, but with Bert, it goes beyond that. We all know that he used to be a basketball official and his countless sacrifices of lending his teams, both in the MBA and in the PBA, to the national cause in several Asian tournaments, is quite commendable,” said Lito Alvarez, president of Airfreight 2100, one of Lina’s flagship companies.

 “Those are the sports closest to Mr. Lina’s heart, that is why, he makes it a point to help in their development any which way he can,” said Alvarez.

Aside from supporting the Philippine National Youth team for years, and lending his pro players to several international tournaments, Lina also organized the Six Footers League, wherein all the participants stood no shorter that six feet. The idea was to teach tall basketball players to play the point-guard position, because as Lina pointed out, “a tall point guard, can play all positions. Imagine a point guard who stands 6’5.” He could be the first ever Filipino to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).”