By Joel B. Belinan
The more than two weeks of non-stop rains that have kept us indoors most of the time gave us the best alibi to be in front of our TVs and computers.
The rains have been pounding Baguio and nearby areas non-stop and as of this writing it’s not showing any sign it will stop. As had been the case, the people at the lowest ranks of the economy are the ones most affected. This was aggravated by the alleged government moves to arrest the possible surge of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant. We are not just grappling with this pandemic but also with the effects of this rainy season. Very common posts that usually pass through my wall in the most popular social media platforms are the usual landslides, floods, wet people going to or from their destinations, and the long lines of people waiting to be vaccinated. By the way, I thought few people wanted to get vaccinated?
Unfortunately, it’s also during the rainy season when the usual community diseases strike, most especially dengue, and the common flu, among others. Thus, at a time when people are generally at their lowest productivity level is also the time to incur additional expenses for medicines and other health needs. I remember a friend who said it is these times when it is worst to be in Baguio and nearby areas. The environment is dump and moving around is inconvenient, unlike in December, January, and February which are the best times. Decembers attract the most people here even if it sometimes drizzles. January and February of course are comparable to spring in four seasoned countries.
Being an avid sportsman myself am always glued to the latest happenings in the Tokyo Olympics. Arguably I have to agree that this is the best Olympics showing of our country since 1924. As of press time, we already have our first historic gold medal courtesy of Hidilyn Diaz who won it in weightlifting last week, one silver courtesy of Nesty Peticio of our National Boxing Team. Interestingly, these two medalists are female and both took the medals in two sports long considered just for men. Three other boxers, Eumir Marcial, Carlos Paalam, and Irish Magno are still in the fight but already assured of bronze medals and even have the chance to win golds. Interestingly, all these five come from Mindanao and the four boxers have adopted Baguio as their second home as the national Boxing Team’s base is at the Teachers Camp And most of these boxers were enrolled at local universities here to pursue their education.
I am not just watching our local guys but the whole Olympics in general. Thus, I am also aware that China as of press time leads in the medal standings followed by the US and Japan and again, as it used to show the world, South Korea is a very small country in size and population but is in the top 5 rankings. And, yes, I saw on my wall a news item about a young Fil-Am lady Fencer who won a gold medal, and another lady boxer from India who also won the silver medal in her weight division. The Indian lady boxer is from Sikkim, whose people are dominantly South East Asian looking. There are several interesting posts of individual athletes’ exploits in the Olympics which make their respective countries proud. After all, athletes’ winning medals will make their countries’ colors to be raised in the Olympics’ venue and would be witnessed by the whole world. And for gold medalists, it means more as they would hear their national anthems being played for all the audience to hear.
One post that caught my attention is about the Singaporean male swimmer who in 2016 won the first Olympic gold medal for his country. I am not intrigued on why he failed to defend his title this time, but in the segment, his uncle revealed that the Singapore government did not finance the swimmer’s training but by his parents. Hurray! The Philippine government is not alone in this league. The swimmer happens to be a Singaporean-American trained in the US and started beating the best American swimmers who have already competed even in the Olympics, and that’s when the Singapore Swimming Association noticed him.
Another post that got my eye is the young Korean archer who won two gold medals. Interestingly this boy at 17 years old is the neighbor of my friend Master Sung Am Cha in the Suburbs of Seoul and to think that the archer is the breadwinner of his family, according to the post.
What is sure for us in this country is that these medalists will be treated like heroes for the time being, and the sport they represent hope to get more local brands to sponsor more athletes. Unfortunately, as had been the case, corporate sponsors do not want to spend their funds on starters but are quick to throw their money once they become popular.
If only most of the big companies here start honestly supporting sports where we have the potential to excel instead of just showing up during harvest time which explains why Diaz and Peticio already received many rewards.
With the exemption of the Manny V. Pangilinan Foundation which had been funding many sports programs, it’s really hard to find private companies supporting grassroots sports programs or even starting athletes. It is sad but a reality in this country.**
