ANYONE in Philippine sports who doesn’t know Manuel V. Pangilinan, or MVP, is not from this country. He or she could be from another planet even.
MVP entered Philippine sports like a storm. He was the certified sports patron, the benefactor. The sports godfather of all godfathers.
And the corporate icon that he is, MVP formalized his enormous support for Philippine sports by establishing the MVP Sports Foundation, or MVPSF, which was incorporated in 2011 and registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit organization that is a privately-funded sports development foundation of the MVP Group of Companies.
“We are focused on helping sports, in particular at present: badminton, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, golf, taekwondo, rugby, weightlifting, rowing, gymnastics and skateboarding,” MVPSF president and trustee, Alfredo “Al” Panlilio said.
“Through the years, aside from basketball, MVPSF has lent a hand in supporting other disciplines and sports that serves as driving force in the development of world class Filipino athletes with a mission of helping both grassroots development and elite programs through our national sports associations [NSAs],” Panlilio added.
The list of sports under MVPSF’s care are a dozen long and they are coursed through the NSAs: Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas, Alliance of Boxing Associations in the Philippines, Philippine Badminton Association, Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas, Philippine Taekwondo Association, Philippine Rugby Football Union (women, men’s 15 and youth), National Golf Association of the Philippines, Philippine Football Federation (women and futsal), Gymnastics Association of the Philippines, Philippine Rowing Association, Skateboarding and Roller Sports Association of the Philippines and Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PHILCYCLING).
“As part of our dream to bring the Philippines its first ever Olympic Gold medal, we also support elite athletes who have a chance at making this happen,” said MVPSF executive director Paul Ryan Gregorio, referring to world champion gymnast Carlos Yulo, Rio 2016 weightlifting silver Medalist Hidilyn Diaz, 2018 Asian Games skateboarding gold medalist Margielyn Didal and 2019 Southeast Asian Games golf gold medalist Bianca Pagdanganan.
With a dozen NSAs to take care of—making sure grassroots programs are in place and elite athletes are harnessed to world-class levels, the MVPSF should be pouring in a lot of resources to achieve its objectives.
“From 2011 to 2019, MVPSF has contributed more than P1.4 billion to Philippine sports,” Panlilio said. When the Covid-19 pandemic prompted the implementation of an enhanced community quarantine in March, MVPSF stood its ground.
“The foundation continued to coordinate with the NSAs, checking up on the respective sports and how the athletes are doing,” Gregorio said. “We want to understand how the NSAs are coping, how they planned to adjust their operations, and see how MVPSF could support given the new normal.”
Besides the Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes—Yulo and boxers Eumir Marcial and Irish Magno—Gregorio said a good number of the NSAs were in the process of qualifying their athletes for the postponed Games “so a lot of coordination was needed to find the best way to adjust to both the unforeseen circumstances in the present and the uncertain future for the sports world ahead of us.”
“The MVPSF regrouped with its president, Al Panlilio, to adjust its approach for the rest of 2020. We continue to communicate with and get updates from the NSAs until today,” Gregorio added.
Because the foundation’s roots have already been deeply embedded in the ground, Panlilio said the MVPSF was unrelenting in its support of the 12 NSAs.
“It was more of understanding the limitations each sport is encountering given the present circumstances,” Panlilio said. “We take into account factors such as how we can help in maintaining the physical condition of the athletes, how training can be facilitated, and how competition formats can be augmented to fit the new normal in our re-assessment of the support given.”
“We are doing our best to study this new situation the sports world is in so we can continue to lobby hard and maximize the funding we can secure for the support of our national athletes,” he added.
The commitment to Philippine sports, Panlilio stressed, won’t waver.
“MVPSF will still continue to support sports to meet our objective and vision for the athletes,” Panlilio said. “We will also monitor how global sports will be adjusting to the new normal. If we see there are any developments such as online competitions or virtual training programs, as long as these are aligned with our mission, then we will continue to support.”