Manila: Five leading figures who played a major part in shaping Philippine sports will be feted with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the San Miguel Corp. - Philippine Sportswriters Association 2025 Awards Night at the Diamond Hotel Manila on Feb. 16. The Lifetime Achievers are the 1991 Philippine Davis Cup team, boxing's beloved Elorde family, officiating guru Romeo 'Romy' Guevara, former commissioner and current weightlifting president Monico Puentevella, and Woman National Master Milagros 'Mila' Emperado.
According to Philippines News Agency, they will be recognized by the country's oldest media organization under its president Francis TJ Ochoa, sports editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, during the formal gala night co-presented by the Philippine Sports Commission with ArenaPlus. In the past five years, recipients of a Lifetime Achievement Award from PSA included Efren 'Bata' Reyes, the late sports patron Eduardo 'Danding' Cojuangco, former Gintong Alay executive director Joey Romasanta, former PBA commissioner Sonny Barrios, basketball legends Sonny Jaworski, Ramon Fernandez, Allan Caidic, and Samboy Lim, champion coaches Dante Silverio, Turo Valenzona, and Joe Lipa, along with track and field great Elma Muros-Posadas.
Heading the list of the 2025 honor roll are Olympic double gold medalist Carlos Yulo and tennis player Alexandra Eala, who will be distinguished as the Male and Female Athletes of the Year. The Philippine Davis Cup team, led by the talented trio of Felix Barrientos, Roland So, and Camoy Palahang, advanced to the World Group qualifier after beating world powerhouse Japan in the quarterfinals and routing China in the semifinals. The team, however, lost to Sweden for a spot in the World Group - the highest level of Davis Cup competition. Although without the former world no. 1 Stefan Edberg, the stacked up Swedish team was composed of world-ranked players Nicklas Kulti, Magnus Larsson, Christian Bergstrom, and Rikard Bergh.
Even after the demise of its famous patriarch in boxing legend and Hall of Famer Gabriel 'Flash' Elorde, the family continued to support the sport through the efforts of the late Laura Elorde - the widow of the former world champion - and her children by promoting fight cards nationwide for almost five decades now, and producing future world title holders and contenders in the process. Guevara is considered the country's expert in basketball officiating, who did the works in all of the major local leagues, from the old MICAA, the UAAP, NCAA, PABL, and the PBA, where he served as official, supervisor, and consultant. Now aged 89, Guevarra is also a renowned referee internationally and taught his expertise in Qatar, Bahrain, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia, among others.
Emperado was among the pioneers in women's chess in the Philippines. The chemistry graduate at Mapua was a member of the country's first all-women chess team that represented the Philippines in the 22nd Chess Olympiad in Haifa, Israel in 1976. Upon retirement, she established the Milo Checkmate Chess Clinic that was responsible for producing five of the Philippines' Grandmasters, including Wesley So.
Puentevella, 79, served as PSC commissioner (1996-2001) before becoming the head of the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas. It was under his leadership that the country won its first-ever gold medal in the Olympics behind prot©g© Hidilyn Diaz during the 2020 Tokyo Games. A product of De La Salle, Puentevella was a former mayor and congressman of Bacolod. He was inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Hall of Fame in 2022.
