Speech
of
His Excellency Fidel V. Ramos
President of the Philippines
During the Launching of and Convention on the Philippine National Games

Delivered at the Manila Midtown Ramada Hotel, March 3, 1994]

From the barangays
to the Olympics

NOTHING delights me more than talking about sports. And I can think of no group I can do that better with than this audience we have here today.

You are the leaders, the motivators, the patrons of Philippine sports. We may be mostly sporting amateurs and enthusiasts but unlike most amateurs and enthusiasts, we have the privilege—and the responsibility—of seeing to it that the Philippine sports program succeeds—not just in terms of individual victories, but as a national effort, a triumph of the whole Filipino nation.

For this is what sports has become in this age of intense global competition: a test and an exhibition of a people’s prowess, a gauge of national resolve, a mirror of the national spirit.

A matter of national policy

And the beauty of sports remains in the fact that, among all human enterprises, it is one founded on the principle of fair play and common rules for all.

Thus exceptional athletic talent can make it possible for a small and poor nation to gain international recognition, to win glory for itself and its people on the sporting field.

We are also acutely aware, however, of the reality that athletic talent cannot prosper beyond a generation unless its production and development become a national concern, a national imperative.

The experience of many countries—especially those whose sportsmen have distinguished themselves in the modern Olympics—shows us that enduring excellence in sports cannot be a matter of accident or the result of happy chance. It has to be a matter of national preparation, priority and policy.

Thus we have come here today to reaffirm our belief that the Government and the private sector must form an enduring partnership in physical fitness and sports development. We must rally behind our athletes and young Filipinos—not only to cheer them on, but to provide them with the basic necessities—and, indeed, the material, moral and spiritual environment they require to succeed.

We also believe in another basic tenet: that a national sports program must benefit all the people—and not only the finest few who may have the gifts and the abilities of international champions.

Sports must be a positive unifying agent for community development and nation building—not an occasion for destructive and self-defeating divisiveness.

The Olympic spirit

Unfortunately, the sporting movement has itself been weakened by petty quarreling and fruitless dissension. Because this situation is deplorable, I have taken firm steps to correct it.

Sports and politics have gone hand in hand from the very beginning. The real question is: What kind of politics must go along with sports—the promotion of self-interest, or the forging of national excellence, national unity and international brotherhood through sports?

The Olympics will be celebrating its centennial two years hence. By June this year a century shall have passed after the day that the modem Olympic idea conceived by the young French nobleman Baron Pierre de Coubertin was embraced in the International Athletic Congress of Paris.

Baron de Coubertin was a thinker, and belonged to an age of visionaries—the spiritual milieu of the nineteenth century, marked by the brilliance of men of genius. Such were his compatriots, Hugo and Delacroix, who headed, respectively, the French romantic school of literature and painting; Zola, advocating naturalistic trends; de Maupassant and Rodin, both outspoken realists; Monet and Degas, representing a school of painting with far-reaching influence.

Deeply rooted in the nineteenth century, but well adapted to the twentieth, some of de Coubertin’s ideas were ahead of his time.

It is no wonder, then, that the ethical principles he formulated have withstood the test of a century. The Olympic movement’s goal shines brightly as ever: “To contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practices without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit which requires mutual understanding in the spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

A personal commitment

Thus the Olympic Games, which are the crowning glory of the Olympic movement, belong to all, without distinction of race, religious creed or political conviction.

This formulation, I submit to you, is political—probably politics at its loftiest, upholding the common interests of humanity above national or individual concerns.

And this is the spirit of achievement that we must infuse into our people, and our sporting community, on the national level. I take this on as a personal commitment.

I have had a long and abiding involvement in sports. I recall that during my many years with the Philippine Olympic Committee, we were already concerned with bringing sports down to the grassroots, to broaden the field from which we could select our champions, as well as to promote physical fitness among all Filipinos.

But instead of firming up the foundation first, the undue haste to build the roof got the better of our sports leaders. There was a lopsided allocation of our scarce resources in favor of churning out instant sports heroes.

This sorry situation continued even after our country’s representative to the UNESCO had affixed his signature in 1978 to the International Charter of Physical Education and Sports.

Article 1 of that Charter states that “the practice of physical education and sports is a fundamental right for all.”

On the three sections under the article, the Philippines has met only the first, although far from completely. We have guaranteed access to physical education and sports within the educational system.

The quest for the gold

But in the other aspects of our social life, we have a lot of catching up to do. And we have yet to provide full sporting opportunities for everyone, especially our young people whether in or out of school, the aged and the handicapped.

It took us all of fifteen years to realize how far we have been left behind, and what we should do to get back on track in our sports and physical-fitness development program.

Our quest for that elusive gold medal in the Olympics can best tell the story. In 1928 a short four years after the country sent a lone athlete to its first Olympiad, the Philippine colors fluttered alongside the Japanese and German flags in the Netherlands as breaststroke swimmer Teofilo Yldefonso won the bronze medal.

Our victories trebled in 1932. Yldefonso repeated as bronze medalist, high jumper Simeon Toribio and boxer Cely Villanueva also won bronzes. But that most prolific showing ever—62 years ago—by Filipino athletes proved to be our brightest Olympic moment.

Thereafter, it was downhill all the way, with the Filipino athlete reduced to a Don Quixote jousting with the windmills.

Seven more Olympiads passed before we nearly succeeded in expunging this image. Cely Villanueva’s son, Anthony, despite a bloodied nose, won a silver medal in a hotly contested fight in the 1964 Olympics.

In the next six Olympics, the Filipino athlete assumed another role, and not for the better—from the role of Don Quixote to that of Rip Van Winkle. Nevertheless, boxers Leopoldo Serrantes and Ruel Velasco jolted Rip Van Winkle from slumber with similar bronze-medal feats in the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, respectively.

Does the Olympic dream still linger? Very much so. In the Philippine Sports Commission’s scheme of things, the Philippines can expect to have an Olympic gold medal by the year 1996.

Sports summit

I understand the Commission and the Department of the Interior and Local Government have already identified the sports in which the Filipino athlete has the potential of winning that gold. Specific programs are now in place to attain that ambition.

Today marks a historic moment in the annals of Philippine sports. We are taking yet another giant step after the first Philippine sports summit that many of us attended in Baguio City in October of 1992.

In that summit we determined where we are and where we want to go in Philippine sports and physical fitness.

Most important, we agreed that physical fitness and sports development are a collective endeavor. Nobody owns the right or the franchise for this program. Conversely, we must all be involved in its implementation.

In this I believe that the provincial governors, city and municipal mayors here with us today have much to offer. As leaders in their own right, they have the experience and the links to the private sector that our program needs to prosper.

To promote the program further, I have signed two Executive Orders—No. 63 establishes a nationwide network which will assist the Philippine Sports Commission in overseeing the promotion and implementation of our physical-fitness and sports development program among the masses, and No. 64 makes sports accessible to all, regardless of age, place of residence and physical capabilities even as the desirable traditional and universal values inherent in the practice of sports are preserved and promoted.

These values include patriotism, nationalism, self-discipline, unity, solidarity, teamwork, industry, camaraderie, sportsmanship and fair play, respect for law and order and the rights of others, preservation of our human and natural resources, and the continuing quest for excellence.

These same values are fundamental to the success of our other great national efforts for economic recovery, social cohesion and political solidarity.

Sports for all

In other words, “sports for all” must energize our nation and our people to achieve the greater development goals of “Philippines 2000.”

I am glad that the Philippine Sports Commission has drawn up an integrated national physical-fitness and sports development program.

Mass-based sports and elite sports cannot compete with one another. Rather, they must coexist, complement and create a synergy for the good and the benefit of all.

What we are launching this morning—the first National Games—is the centerpiece activity of our integrated and comprehensive physical-fitness and sports development program.

The Philippine National Games will provide the link between sports in the barangays and the high-performance sports for international visibility.

More than providing impetus for the development of a healthy and alert citizenry and serving as a springboard for our athletes to win honors for the country, the Philippine National Games should showcase and emphasize the harmony and cooperation of the private and public sectors for the people’s welfare and our nation’s interests.

Sports must unite, rather than fragment, our people and their leaders. And you and I must profess and practice that unity before we can expect it of others.

Let us bond together and work together—as a Philippine team, in quest of sports excellence, national achievement and victory by the year 2000.