Dayrit comes to rescue of Villanueva

Philippine Olympic Committee president Celso Dayrit said the Olympic silver medal belongs to its winner, 1964 Tokyo boxing runner-up Anthony Villanueva, and vowed to help raise funds that will be loaned to him to avoid the prized medal from falling into hands of third parties.

"The Olympic medal belongs to him, it's his to keep and cherish and it's a national treasure," said Dayrit, reacting to a news report that Villanueva, now 54 and the country's first Olympic silver medalist, wanted to sell his medal for P1 million for the upkeep of his family.

"We must know his plan first. If he's staying here for good, maybe the POC can find some amount and lend it to him as some kind of loan," said Dayrit. "We will hold on to the medal and return it to him once he has paid the amount."

Dayrit said Villanueva's move may send a wrong signal to athletes aspiring to make good in the Olympics or dreaming to win an Olympic gold.

Hard-hit by the economic crisis, Villanueva, who now ekes out a living training boxers at the Elorde Boxing Gym in Sucat, Parañaque, is losing hope in the government which had announced financial subsidy to former international medalists.

Villanueva won the country's first Olympic silver after losing to Stanislav Stepashkin of the former Soviet Union in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Villanueva stands to earn an incentive of P500,000 for his feat and a monthly stipend for the rest of his life under a House and Senate Bill still pending.

However, Villanueva cannot wait for the slow bureaucratic red tape.

He earlier donated the medallion to the Museo Pambata of the Manila City government but discovered, to his chagrin, that the priceless item was placed only in a drawer and decided to get it back. -