Monserrat breaks silence, decries politics in sports

After a silence of 24 years, former Philippine Amateur Athletic Federation (PAAF) president Felipe Monserrat came out in the open to blame politicians with vested interests for the country’s repeated failures in the Olympics.

Monserrat, 85, spoke from Los Angeles, where he migrated in 1984 with his family, and said he quit sports because “politics overcame me and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

It was Monserrat who as president of the Association for the Advancement of Amateur Athletics, spearheaded a strong lobby before the Senate and House of Representatives for the approval of Republic Act No. 3135 to grant autonomy to National Sports Associations (NSAs). The decentralization of the PAAF and Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) - which functioned with common officials - was made into law in 1962. The PAAF was later abolished in 1974, in the process bolstering the identity of the POC.

Monserrat succeeded Antonio de las Alas as PAAF president in 1968 after he headed the Philippine delegation at the Mexico Olympics. He was reelected in 1970 and resigned after two years “out of frustration.”

What broke Monserrat’s resolve was the lack of support for his campaign to send more athletes than officials at the Bangkok Asian Games in 1970.

“I took a stand and wanted to send only athletes who had the potential for at least a bronze medal at the Asian Games,” recalled Monserrat. “That’s because we didn’t have enough money. I wanted to set an example by sending a lean but competitive delegation. I put my foot down on junkets where officials outnumbered athletes in attending sports events. I didn’t want to waste time and resources by sending so many athletes and officials. I promised to resign if I couldn’t do it. As it turned out, I was overrun by politicians.”

Since leaving the country in 1984, Monserrat has not returned.

“Maybe, someday I will,” said Monserrat. “But I notice from reading reports of our Olympic performance, the situation hasn’t changed. There is still so much politics in sports and it’s sickening. The back-stabbing continues. I hate it. Unless politics is out of sports, we’ll never progress.”

Monserrat’s dream is for the Philippines to capture its first-ever Olympic gold medal in his lifetime.

“It hurts me to see smaller and less developed countries winning gold medals and we can’t,” said Monserrat. “Before I die, I hope the Philippines wins an Olympic gold medal or even another silver.”

Monserrat said some of today’s sports officials look out for themselves more than athletes.

“During our time, we served for the love of sports and didn’t care about the perks,” he continued. “Now, they’re more concerned about traveling.”

Monserrat said when he was Philippine Football Federation (PFF) president for over 10 years, the country witnessed a renaissance in the sport.

“When I became PFF president, we were getting clobbered by Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan with scores of 14-0 and 12-0,” he recalled. “Our problem was coaching. So I recruited four Spanish coaches, including Juan Cutillas and Tomas Lozano who still live in Manila, and asked San Miguel Corp. to sponsor them. Then we organized the BOFA, a boys’ league, with Leo Prieto and John Clelland, to develop a new core of players. After two or three years, the results were evident. From four boys teams, we grew to hundreds. We became competitive in Asia and to sustain the program, added two more coaches from England and Scotland. With good results, we were able to generate more sponsors.”

Monserrat said in his term, there was only P1 million to go around 22 NSAs but sports officials, known for their sincerity, took the initiative to solicit private sector support for their events.

“The key is to build upwards in a pyramid where the grassroots base is strong,” he went on. “It takes a lot of dedication and drive for an athlete to excel and sports officials must set a good example of discipline and sacrifice. If we start now, we can develop Olympic medalists in five to seven years. Maybe, London is too late but we’ve got to move now. It’s the only way to go. We started from nothing in football but with a solid program, we became something. But it’s not going to happen again if the politics doesn’t go away.”

Monserrat said in his own small way in Los Angeles, he is willing to contribute to the development of Philippine sports.

“Technology is essential,” he said. “If our athletes aren’t exposed to new techniques in strengthening their skills and conditioning, we won’t go far. My son Ike runs a football camp in L. A. Two years ago, he started with two or three teams. Now, he has 30 to 50 teams from six to 16 year olds. That kind of dedication is what we need to promote sports.”

Monserrat said he will always be proud of his legacy in Philippine sports. “Even if I’ve been forgotten, I think my contribution of pushing for NSA autonomy was significant,” he continued. “In our time, sports officials and sportswriters were united in fighting for reforms. Teddy Benigno and Virgilio Pantaleon were with us. Mariano Yenko, Henry Quema, Luis Javellana, Tony de las Alas and Ambrosio Padilla were some of our exemplary leaders.”

You could almost hear Monserrat sigh, “if only today’s leaders were like the leaders of before.”