‘Kapitan’ plays skipper to Team Tanduay’s bid

He is known by many names, but the word "Kapitan" does not fit better than now for philanthropist Lucio Tan.

With the 2004 Tour ng Pilipinas set to wheel off tomorrow, the taipan plays skipper to a bunch of determined warriors on wheels who are looking to better a fourth-place in last year’s edition of the summer classic.

Team Tanduay sets out as a darkhorse in the field even with defending individual champion Arnel Querimit leading the way, as a host of new faces, virtual greehorns in the Tour, make up the core of the squad.

But this had not stopped the conglomerate owner from bankrolling the team for the second straight year, his pitch to helping cycling in particular and sports in the country in general.

"Dr. Tan has always had a soft heart for the Filipino athlete," said Wilson Young, the chief operating officer of Tanduay. "He may be busy with a lot of things, looking over the day-to-day affairs of his companies, but he never lets a day pass without knowing the state of sports in the country," Tanduay has never been out of sports circles even after Tan bought the giant liquor company some years back, dominating the Philippine Basketball League like no one has done and making a return stint to the Philippine Basketball Association.

Aside from helping a group of bronze-skinned gladiators, Tan’s Tanduay will be sponsoring a big billiards tournament in the coming months and is exploring talks with several people regarding the sponsorship of others.

Tan, whose other socio-civic works include donations of buildings in schools, also owns Philippine Airlines, who’s Interclub has been running for close to six decades now and is regarded as the country’s unofficial team championship in golf.