Silos picked as Special Olympics global messenger

MANILA, Philippines - Intellectually challenged Anton Silos was selected as the only Filipino to become a Special Olympics international global messenger and will undergo training in his new role in Marrakech, Morocco, starting today.

Silos, 26, is the captain of the Philippines’ Special Olympics bowling team. He brought home the gold, silver and bronze medals in the doubles, singles and team events at the 2007 World Summer Special Olympics in Shanghai.

While in Morocco, Silos will also participate in the third Special Olympics Global Athletes Congress as the Philippine representative among 66 delegates from more than 35 countries. The summit will chart the course for the future of the Special Olympics movement. Special athletes from around the world will gather to discuss issues vital to the movement and to propose new policies related to competition management and more active participation in a leadership capacity in government relations and fund-raising. They will take up the 2011-15 strategic plan and network with leaders in an effort to reach a global consensus on how to improve the plight of special athletes.

Silos is accompanied by lawyer Isagani Zulueta, Special Athletes Bowling Association chairman and coach, in Morocco.

“A lot has been written about Manny Pacquiao, Efren Penaflorida, Lea Salonga and Charice Pempengco and now, we have a special athlete who is bringing honor to the country,” said Cristina Canizares-Gacuma, Special Olympics Philippines director and coach at Teacher Mom. “It’s fresh news and inspiring to parents with special needs. As a special athlete, Anton is a source of inspiration in the field of sports.”

Silos’ first sport was golf which he learned to play from his father Ramon when he was 11. Then, Silos was introduced to bowling at 13 and has been hooked to the sport since. His bowling heroes are Paeng Nepomuceno and Biboy Rivera.

Silos was diagnosed by doctors to be suffering from an intellectual disability which affects his comprehension and retards his learning process. He went to different regular and special schools. His parents Ramon and Irene made sure he had the best care. Silos’ older brother Miguel and younger sister Iya live in the US so that he receives his parents’ full attention.

It was in sports where Silos found his place in the sun.

“Anton dreams of becoming the first Philippine ambassador to the Special Olympics, coaching intellectually challenged bowlers and managing his own bowling alley someday,” said Gacuma. “He hopes to lead the Philippines’ Special Olympics bowling team to victory in international competitions.”

Before joining the Special Olympics, Silos was a consistent top finisher in monthly tournaments organized by the Tenpin Bowling Association of Makati (TBAM). In September 2004, he took second place in the Class A tournament with an average score of 190. The next year, Silos competed in the sixth National Special Olympics Singapore Invitationals where he took the gold and silver in the mixed doubles and singles events. That same year, he captured three gold medals in the team, doubles and singles events at the first Special Olympics Philippines National Bowling Championships at the Sta. Lucia East lanes in Cainta. At the eighth Special Olympics Invitational Tenpin Bowling Championships in Malaysia, Silos won a special award for registering 666 pinfalls in four games and claimed the gold medal in the singles event.

“It’s not disability, but personality– the capability to contribute to main society, not the condition – that makes an intellectually disabled person worthy to be treated with dignity and acceptance,” said the multi-awarded Silos.

When Special Olympics International chairman Dr. Timothy Shriver visited Manila last July, Silos was on stage to introduce the philanthropist before he delivered a speech to the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines and the Makati Business Club.

The Special Olympics program is a non-profit humanitarian initiative pioneered in the US by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968. The organization provides opportunities for athletes, like Silos, to experience enriching episodes that show courage and joy, and develop their skills and gifts. The Special Olympics program reaches out to nearly 3.5 million athletes in over 170 countries, providing year-round sports training, athletic competition and other related activities.

More than 30,000 Filipinos are born every year with intellectual disabilities and three to seven percent of the population is afflicted. Intellectual disability is the largest single life-long handicap existing in the Philippines today.

“This is a great opportunity for us to grow our program,” said Special Olympics national executive director Alex Babst. “This is the third global congress in Special Olympics history. At the inaugural congress in 2000 in the Netherlands, 67 athlete leaders took steps towards creating new terminology and the first global codes of conduct for athletes and coaches. The second congress was convened in 2005 in Panama City and brought together 70 athletes from around the world.”

South African special athlete and congress chairman Ephraim Mopedi Mohlakane said the gathering in Morocco is “an opportunity for us as Special Olympics athletes to show the world our abilities while also serving as leaders of a movement we passionately want to grow.” Mohlakane said there are over 200 million people world-wide with intellectual disabilities, making it crucial for the congress to open doors for challenged athletes to gain respect and acceptance.