Ailing Caloy forces Chito to quit post

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Sports commissioner Chito Loyzaga yesterday resigned from his post to personally attend to his ailing father, Filipino boxing legend Carlos “The Big Difference” Loyzaga, in Australia.

“It is with deep regret that I am tendering my irrevocable resignation as a commissioner of the PSC effective April 30, 2012,” said Loyzaga, who was appointed to his posts two years ago, in a resignation letter sent to President Aquino last Friday.

“I had wanted to deliver this resignation personally, but I needed to join my family in Australia to accompany my ailing father, Caloy Loyzaga.

“I have always been the closest to my father. He underwent a quadruple bypass in 2003 but suffered a major stroke just last June 2011. He did not fully recover from that stroke and my mother is now in need of my help in caring for him. He is 82 years old now and I believe it is my duty to help attend to his needs,” he added.

PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez said Loyzaga is a big loss to Phl sports.

“He’s become a good friend in the short time we’re together in the PSC and he represented the athletes well being a former athlete himself. He will be missed,” said Gomez.

If not for his family duties, Loyzaga said he would have wanted to stay put and contribute more to the development of sports in the country.

“The decision to leave the PSC was truly a difficult one for me. I had accepted the position as PSC commissioner because I believed I would be able to contribute significantly to sports development and institute much needed reforms,” he said.

Loyzaga, who was part of the Sonny Jaworski Sr.-mentored Phl cage team that won the silver medal in the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, was a strong advocate of the initial plan of prioritizing 10 sports to boost the country’s gold medal chances in the Asian Games and the Olympics.

The “prioritization” was supposed to be implemented this year but the government sports-funding agency decided at the last minute to put it on hold for undisclosed reasons.

“I fully ascribe to your policy of prioritizing 10 sports where the Filipino athletes have a fighting chance in the Olympics and Asian Games. The PSC’s resource management policy needs to be directed towards those sports where we have a competitive advantage and wherein our performance may become a source of national pride,” said Loyzaga.

“Given limited financial resources, the PSC’s prioritization policy will ensure sustainability and stability of our national sports development program,” he added.