Sports in Lina's heart

It would take several volumes to complete a list of Manila Hotel president Joey Lina’s accomplishments as a two-term Senator, two-term Governor of Laguna and Department of the Interior and Local Government secretary. As a public servant, Lina was at the top of his class.

But sifting through his achievements and citations, you notice a passionate involvement in sports. In the Senate, he was the principal sponsor and co-author of R.A. 6847 which created the Philippine Sports Commission and R.A. 7549 which granted tax exemption privileges to donors and donees of awards for national athletes. Lina has always recognized the value of sports as a source of national pride. He never took a step back in going the extra mile to promote programs that provided for the needs of national athletes.

Who can forget Lina’s “Adopt an Athlete” project that raised P64 Million to care for 442 national athletes and 70 coaches eventually delivering 188 medals at the Southeast Asian Games in 1993? Who can forget his “Akbayan” nationwide torch relay that gathered over a million runners in the final leg at the Luneta and marked the start of the Decade of Physical Fitness and Sports Development in 1990-2000? Who can forget the landmark first-ever Philippine Sports Summit initiated by Lina that led to President Ramos’ Executive Order declaring a policy of “Sports For All?”

Then in 2006, Lina made the ultimate sacrifice by giving up the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) presidency to solidify the Samahang Basketbol Ng Pilipinas, a move that led to the lifting of FIBA’s suspension of the Philippines. Lina’s older brother Bert is also a major supporter of sports – he owns the Air21 and Barako Bull teams in the PBA and was a former Philippine Cycling Federation president.

Now that Lina has turned 60, sports continues to occupy a special place in his heart. He is the president of the Calamba Football Festival, Inc. which recently kicked off a year-round, four-leg grassroots development program involving some 660 players representing 58 public and private schools in the Laguna city to end in December. The categories of competition are boys 9-under, 13-under and 17-under and girls 17-under.

* * *

The grassroots program is sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation and recognized by FIFA. The Prince of Jordan and FIFA vice president Ali Bin Al-Hussein was the guest of honor at the festival inaugurals last month. “We won’t succeed if we don’t help each other,” said Lina. “In sports, there can be no victory if there is no grassroots program because our youth is the source of talent for our national athletes. As our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, who was from Laguna, said the youth is the hope of our country.”

The Calamba festival will include the Invitational Cup in April, the National Cup in July and the International Cup in December. Lina said the International Cup will be the Asian version of the World Youth Gothia Cup which is a yearly football event bringing together thousands of youth players from all over the world to compete in a goodwill tournament in Sweden. The Gothia Cup assembles about 1,600 teams from 60 countries to play in age-groups from 11 to 19.

To be invited to participate in the International Cup will be Calamba’s sister cities Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Seoul and other cities in Europe, Africa, Oceania and the Americas. Aside from sports, Lina is also passionate about music. For five years, he performed with the late Secretary of Defense Angelo Reyes and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando in 10 fund-raising concerts for charity. They were known as the Three Tenors. “We were never paid for singing,” said Lina whose career in government was marked by a record of integrity. “In fact, abonado pa kami. Our goal was to raise funds for charity and good causes through our concerts. At first, Angie and Bayani didn’t want to pursue it but I kept telling them kaya natin ‘to. Before long, I found out they were secretly practicing and toning their voices.”

* * *

Singing was a late “career” for Lina. “When I was a student at Osmeña High School in Tondo, I was the corps commander, did drama on stage and competed in elocution contests,” he said. “There was no time for singing. I did sing once on stage as Captain Von Trapp in ‘Sound of Music’ but that was because of my involvement in drama. I joined the Glee Club at UST where I earned my economics degree. At UP where I finished law, I was an activist – there was again no time for singing. Later, when I was already in government, I was supposed to be a presenter at the Aliw Awards but I spoke to the organizers and asked if I could sing instead so I could go home early. That got me started. When I joined the Cabinet, I was often called on to sing. At Angie’s wake, I sang ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone,’ the anthem of Liverpool football, and Bayani sang ‘My Way.’”

Lina has recorded a CD entitled “Nagmamahal” which features seven songs, including his favorite “The Impossible Dream” and “The Prayer,” arranged by his wife Lory and starring their six children. The album also includes the gripping “Jekyll and Hyde” musical theme “This Is The Moment” and “Kung Nasaan Ka Man.”

“I’ve always loved music like sports,” said Lina whose mother-in-law Corazon de Jesus was an operatic singer. “When I was young, I used to just sing in the shower. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would someday sing as the front act for Petula Clark, The Lettermen and Engelbert Humperdinck. It’s a blessing from God that I’m able to share this gift.”

As a man of many talents, Lina is a model Filipino whose heart is in the right place.