Sports-minded Spines

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

ONLY his close friends know that our newly elected Governor Amado T. Espino Jr. is a sports-minded person.

And I was never able to say the same for our outgoing governor.

I came to know of  Espino’s — fondly called “Spines” by his colleagues and admirers —  love for sports in 1981, just after the Marlboro Tour when my co-cyclist Fermin Zabala of  Bautista town recounted to me how he bagged the first runner-up plum, losing the national title to provincemate Jacinto Sicam by just a mere 12 seconds. He said his town mate, Spines, then with a rank of captain in the Integrated National Police, helped him financially during his intensive training. Zabala said without the assistance from spines, maybe he would not have landed on the top five.

Unfortunately, Zabala and Sicam met their untimely deaths in 1988 and 2001, respectively, due to road accidents while riding motorcycles.

Year 1993, I came back for good after staying in Uncle Sam’s land for more than 15 years. The following year, spines became head of the provincial police while taking charge of training of our provincial squad for the Philippine National Games. He asked me then to bring our local cyclists to his office to meet them because he wanted to help our boys in their daily training.

Spines’ initiative and assistance bore fruit and our local squad won the silver medal in the PNG road race and topped the team competition.

Spines was also assigned by then President Fidel V. Ramos to oversee the construction of the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center (NRSCC) in Lingayen. With the construction of the NRSCC, the dream of hosting the annual Palarong Pambansa finally came true in January 1995.

Year 2006 was the year the province formed the “Hundred Islands Pangasinan” basketball team that competed at the National Basketball Conference (NBC) with well-known philanthropist Engr. Rosendo So taking the charge. Spines is one of the biggest supporters of   the squad   along   with his colleagues in the lower house Conrado Estrella III, and Mark Cojuangco

Unfortunately, our local squad was not able to bag any honor and is temporarily disbanded. But there’s an unconfirmed report as of press time-that our provincial quintet will be reorganized next year. Hopefully it will be done.

Numerous bicycle races were staged last year and   this   year    prior to the elections. As usual, Spines was always there to give a helping hand.

Our new father in Pangasinan will report for his new job on July 1. I do know he has a lot of problems to solve for the province and perhaps sports will not be his top priority. But I would  like to believe that sports development will be included in his programs because he knows that sports is one of the best ways to curb the illegal drug use.

Knowing Spines since 1993, I know he will do just that.

(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/)

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