BENCHWARMER

The need to cover sports
RAMON DACAWI

Lawyer and fellow provincial newsman Delmar Carino said teachers told him about Jimmy Laking’s recent column that advised the need for coverage of the last Cordillera Games, particularly by us who, for years, were asked to conduct basic lectures in the annual regional campus journalism competitions.

Jimmy’s right, and Delmar did come up with one story on Baguio’s topping the athletic meet. I didn’t cover. I went as a fan on opening day, and had fun listening to former baseball players Joe Ambasing and Macario Fumucao recall their unforgettable years on the diamond with coach Ben Dimas.

The two were looking for the old man, to share memories and so they could thank him again. Joe also recalled when, at the 1963 Northern Luzon meet, then Mt. Province Congressman (or Governor ?) Alfredo Lamen promised P50 to whoever in the team could swing a homerun. Joe struck two homers in succession and, with dispatch, received P50.00 for the first and P20.00 for the second. Years late, Joe met Lamen and reminded him of the shortfall. The old man answered age had muddled memory or something to that effect.

I’ve had my years of consistent sports coverage, up to the “Palarong Pambansa”. How I wish now the younger crop of Baguio Journalists would have the drive, the energy and passion to experience the tiresome yet thrilling beat in their prime.

My memory returned to that final in the 100 meters for high school girls at the Benguet State University grounds I don’t know when. It was a photo finish, and Baguio protested when the judges declared the Benguet bet the winner. At the victory stand, the Benguet lass handed over the gold medal to her Baguio rival and slid the silver around her neck.

The gesture of sportsmanship impressed the venerable sports patron and educator, Dr. Fernando Bautista Sr., the founder of the University of Baguio. He handed the girl a cash award. A few years later, high school journalists in Dalupirip, Itogon tower, led me to her home by the Agno River, where they interviewed her for their features on honesty and fair play. She was thena young mother holding her baby by her lap. I wondered whether the toddler for the mother’s athletic genes.

At the Cordillera Games in Lagawe, Ifugao, police officer and delegation security chief Jaime Dereje dropped his wallet inside a tricycle bound for our quarters in Kiangan town. The cabbie returned it, with its wad intact. My memory now fails me, but I guess Manong Jimmy had cautioned me against writing about the driver’s honesty, lest his wife would know and capture his undeclared cash.

More than highlighting fair play, media coverage can help rectify lapses in judgement. In Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, when the Cordillera was still part of the Northern Luzon Athletic Association, the late Baguio journalist Willy Cacdac helped then city superintendent of schools Jose Olarte compose a protest letter over a province’s import of basketball players from another province and region.

At a “Batang Pinoy” edition in Bacolod, judges had to rely on a replay of the video docu of Peewee Agustin to overturn a referee’s decision to give the gold to the opponent of Baguio taekwondo player Mark Bautista.

“Kitang-kita dito sa video, o, na lamang ang Baguio, “ a judge said.

Still in Bacolod, regional sports supervisior Romeo Palod asked me to draft a protest against the coach of Iloilo who led his boys to chasing and abusing the Baguio side after his team lost , 0-1 in the preliminaries of elementary boys football .

Iloilo, especially the town of Barotac Nuevo, is the country’s soccer capital. It was simply difficult to think it lost to boys from the Northern Luzon mountains.

In a “Palarong Pambansa” in Koronadal, South Cotabato, I couldn’t help but point out to a recorder at finish that he missed writing the names and clockings of twoCordillera runners who had just topped their respective heats on the track. As coaches were notallowed anywhere near the oval, the recorder must have wondered why I was behind him, almost breathing down his neck. He checked my reporter’s ID and then corrected the errors in his entries.

There were amusing and sad incidents then as there are now. Midway into the “Palaro” in Gen. Santos City, I was typing out my daily radio dispatch when some Cordillera school officials came to bid goodbye. “Panawan dakayon ta agawid kamin,” one said. “ Napasyar mi metten ti Mindanao.”

Time was when our athletes complained of over- or under-sized uniforms, of running shirts that scratched and hurt that they thought they were made of plastic, like “basket abot-abot”.

Coverage was quite stressful when officials were reluctant to let you peek into the results, or before the entry of computers, or when venues were not centralized. You had to shuttle to and from Gen. Santos, Sarangani and Koronadal, or to and from Pili and Naga in the Bicol Region, to get the full data. You sometimes had to wait until the national media had written and sent their stories before you got access to the limited typewriters, computers, fax machinesand phone lines.

You meet friends from way back. We were preparing for home when a pick-up stopped by our school quarters in GenSan. Out came three security men with guns, followed by a diminutive yet authoritative figure who asked Manong victor Panagan if I was around.

Before Vic could figure out how to answer, the man saw me. “Hindi ka makaka-alis ng Mindanao kung di ka sasama sa amin,” boomed Manny Pinol, the seasoned sports writer and commentator. He then dipped his hands into the pick-up’s open rear and fished a bunch of chickens. “Paki-pinikpikan n’yo muna ito at ipasyal ko muna ‘tong kapatid ko,” he advised Manong Vic.

On the way to M’lang town where he was then the mayor, I admitted to Manny my unfamiliarity – and discomfort – stepping on armalite rifles with grenade launchers lining the vehicle floor. “Kailangan kasi mga yan dito, di kagaya sa inyo sa Baguio,” he explained.

Manny later got elected three-term governor of Cotabato where he now serves as vice-governor. Formerly with Tempo, he has emerged as a decisive and major voice for the development of Mindanao.

You also meet fellow provincials in media, as I did in Cebu. A guy writing for the daily Freeman asked where I was from. Do you know Jimmy Laking, he asked. I said Jimmy and I were the first appointed business managers or gofers of the Baguio media club and that I hadn’t seen him for years since he started hopping in Cebu and Mindanao.

“Kuya Jimmy taught me how to write,” the guy said. I reined the urge to say there were more like Jimmy from where he came, then decided to tell the truth. Jimmy, I told the fellow, is one of our best, especially in features.

Jimmy’s right. Provincial journalists as we are, we need to cover sports. It means more than reporting on the medals our athletes reap or lose. The daily dispatches we can send home to the Cordillera are enough assurance to parents, villagers, towns and provinces that their children competing out there are safe and sound.

That’s why I’m considering covering the next “Palaro” this April in Palawan. I haven’t seen the place yet, but lensman Bong Cayabyab insists and swears it’s beautiful. (e-mail: rdacawi@yahoo.com for comments).