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Cojuangco recalls cockfighting days
Written by staff   
Wednesday, 21 January 2009 05:41

I touched base with POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. during a gathering of cockfighting aficionados recently at the Mandarin Oriental Suites of Gateway Mall at the Araneta Center in Cubao, Quezon City.

The well-attended affair was the opening salvo to the 2009 World Slasher Cup at the Big Dome where 250 entries are seeing action.

A four-time winner of the WSC, Cojuangco recalled the good old days when only a few sabong diehards—including derby host and coliseum owner Jorge “Nene” Araneta—held friendly matches among themselves.

“There was a time when only six of us pitted our favorite battle cocks against each other at (the family-owned Hacienda) Luisita in Tarlac,” said Cojuangco, who was recently elected to another four-year term as president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Although he still maintains a cockfighting farm at Luisita, Cojuangco said he was not participating this year at the international derby due to pressure of work at the Olympic body, where one of his priorities is to discover new talents among the youth.

He is amazed at the progress made by the authentic Filipino sport of cockfighting, saying it has become a national pastime with legions of followers that know no social barriers.

Cojuangco, together with longtime cocking partner Esting Teopaco and American cocker-breeder Bob Howard, first broke into the limelight in 1991 when they won the WSC with their entry, Bob & Sting. They wound up in a tie with Cito Alberto (C.A. Villamor) and the tandem of William Co-Cris Padilla (Botchocoy).

In 1993, the Cojuangco-Teopaco-Howard combine (Bob & Joe) emerged solo champion. They repeated the feat in 1995 by finishing in another tie, this time with veteran cockers Nene Abello and Mario Villamor and their American partner Carol Nesmith (Two Raffy’s Blackwater).

Using the entry name of Cat Stinger, the Cojuangco-Teopaco tandem won its fourth and last WSC in 1996, sharing the honor with the trio composed of hotelier Biboy Enriquez-Jerry Ellard-Scott Baird (Ohatchee Firebird III) and Henry Tan (Dynasty).

Last year, Gen-Gen Arayata and Cyrus Hao (Super Clyde & KC) captured the January leg of the WSC, emerging the solo winner by posting an unbeaten record of eight straight wins. In May, Honey Yu (Honty 888) and Cito Alberto (Deep Impact-B) wound up joint winners with seven points.

* * *

Filipino athletes got a shot in the arm after Far Eastern University and Medical City launched the first-ever Sports Performance and Rehabilitation Center (SPARC) last Tuesday at the FEU technology building.

Kudos to Medical City officials and FEU bigwigs, led by Dr. Lourdes R. Montinola, chair of the board of trustees; president Lydia B. Echauz and team manager Anton Reyes Montinola, for making the sports-rehab program possible.

As Dr. Montinola, daughter of the FEU founder Dr. Nicanor Reyes Sr., said: “Sports has always played a big role at the Far Eastern University. It taught one how to be a gentleman, how to be sportsmanlike.”

FEU’s great contribution to sports was started by Dr. Montinola’s late brothers—war hero Nicanor “Noring” Reyes Jr., who was trained in many sports, especially boxing and judo, and Alfredo “Ding” Reyes, who finished a course in sports management in the United States.

On FEU’s sterling record in sports, Ding Reyes said: “Being an athlete means more than obtaining honor and renown. The emphasis on athletics is not so much on individual prominence as on efficiency of the work done by the team as a group. A team, or an organization for that matter, is only strong as long as its members are able to make it work as one.”
 
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