Did you know that the days covering the last week of November until the first week of December are worth remembering in the country’s quest for honors and recognition in the international amateur sports scene?
Only a few perhaps, remember that on Nov. 25 until Dec. 5, 1991, the Philippines played host to the the 16th Southeast Asian Games called the “Manila Miracle of ‘91,” and came up with its worthiest performance in the biennial conclave—a second overall finish—losing to eventual champion Indonesia in terms of silver medal harvest.
After the smoke of battle cleared, the Filipino athletes led by swimmer Eric Buhain, teammate Akilo Thompson, also a swimmer, and sprinter Lydia de Vega-Mercado, matched the Indonesians’ 91 gold-medal output, one short of Indonesia’s 92 and had to settle for a bridesmaid finish.
A month later, however, an Indonesian in weightlifting was stripped of the gold medal when was found positive of drug use, bringing the gold-medal tally between the overall champion and the host to a 91-all stalemate.
The Indonesians still went home, however, with the overall crown on the strength of their 86 silver-medal haul to the Filipinos’ 62.
Fourteen years later, also in November, the country as host of the Games for the third time, did better with victories sweeter and more dramatic as they emerged overall champions for the first time since joining the SEA Games Federation in 1977.
The Philippines’ runner up finish in the 1991 SEA Games proved, once more, the Filipino athletes’ resiliency, show their supremacy over their counterparts from the region and honor a committment as member of the brotherhood of nations.
Being able to stage the Games as scheduled despite economic resrictions was a “miracle” in itself. Winning 91 gold medals, 62 silver and 86 bronze medals was another.
Never had the entire nation been as united by a single cause than their spontaneous support to their athletes whose quantum leap from fifth place two years earlier in Kuala Lumpur, when its basketball team lost the title for the first time, was astounding enough.
The display of national courage by no less than President Cory Aquino, wbo insisted on staging the Games here despite calls from her some officials to cancel the same due to economic hardship brought about by several natural and man-made calamities that struck the country the past two years.
A killer quake hit most part of Luzon July of 1990, Mt. Pinatubo erupted in June of 1991 and flash floods in Leyte killed thousands months before the Games were to commence. It looked like the Games, were, indeed, doomed.
But Tita Cory said NO to the voices asking that hosting be transferred to another country more capable of doing so. Infrastructure which remained unfinished posed another big problem was completed in time for the opening ceremony. Equipment came in time for the competitions.
And why not? Tita Cory was about to celebrate her first SEA Games since signing Rep. Act 6847, the law creating the Philippines Sports Commission two years back in 1990.
As in 1981 during the country’s first ever hosting of the event, the Filipinos met the deadlines in scrambling fashion, dressed up their premier city and flashed the world-renowned smile of hospitality to meet their guests, who, for two years running didn’t hide their skepticisms over the hosts’ ability to come through.
And the athletes, to whose benefit thr PSC Law was created, did the lady who affixed her signature to the bill justice by responding to the call and egged on by their countrymen, put on thier strongest showing in the then 32-year meet.
Crowds swarmed all over the competition venues — from the decades-old Rizal Memorial Spots Complex where Buhain won all six events he competed in to claim his back-to-back “outstanding male athlete” honor and the RMSC Coliseum for basketball, to Ninoy Aquino Stadium for wushu, the Marines Range at Fort Bonifacio for shooting, back to RMSC oval for athletics, Folk Arts Theater for boxing and even the hilly Antipolo mountains for cycling and golf. The Filipino athletes came to conquer and their report card reflected high marks in 13 disciplines with De Vega-Mercado reclaiming her crown not only as Southeasts Asia’s “Fastest Woman” but Asia’s as well, the basketball team, likewise, recaptured the title in the sport the nation love most, aside from rubbing salt to Malaysia’s humiliation by eliminating the defending champions in football.
In the end, the Buhain-led Filipino swimmers ended up the winningest contingent with 10 gold medals matched by the shooters and wushu artists. De Vega-Mercado and her teammates brought home eight along with the boxers and the taekwondo jins.
Rounding out the host country’s gold-medal harvest were karatedo, 5; bowling, 4, billiards and snooker, 4, cycling, 4, gymnastics, 4; golf, 3; lawn tennis, 3; judo, 2, softball, 2; and basketball, bodybuilding, fencing, weightlifting, yachting and broasiling 1 each.