Manny V. Pangilinan - His View, Take, and Passion for Sports

This is an article on the Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) Olympics - a sports event that gathered all companies under Mr. Pangilinan's leadership. This feature story will be published in the 2nd quarter of the employee magazine of Smart Communications, Inc. Two weeks before I left, Mr. Pangilinan was the last person I interviewed in my six years of stay in SMART, a fitting and amazing end to my enjoyable and memorable stay in the company.

“What an insane but excellent idea!” This was Manny V. Pangilinan’s (MVP) reaction when the MVP Olympics proposal was first presented to him. The man who support sports on a national scale gave his 100% approval to launch a sports fest aptly named after his initials. The MVP Olympics is meant to gather all companies under PLDT and Metro Pacific Investment Corporation in a week-long sports tournament. 

“There is a tendency that legal corporate form inhibits people from crossing company boundaries. This is the perfect opportunity to get all employees together under one roof,” he said.

Even though with little time to prepare and expenses unforeseen by most of the companies, the MVP Olympics was an absolute victory. MVP gave his praises to the organizers of the event, the athletes who competed, and all the companies who gave their overwhelming support. “I believe part of the event's success is that the companies responded very well to the challenge. Even with less training time, there were a lot of enthusiasm and energy among employees. We are off to a very good start,” he added. 

One of the objectives of the MVP Olympics is to build a culture of healthy lifestyle. MVP hopes that through the event, employees were encouraged to engage in sports and experience its health benefits. “You have a body and you must take care of it as you age. It is not fun to be sick,” he said.

Sports Run in the Family

In his elementary days in San Beda, MVP used to play patintero, tumbang preso, luksong tinik and baseball. He believes he inherited his love for sports from his father, who was a sports enthusiast himself.

“My father loves to play tennis. I remember he was appointed as baseball director of then President Ferdinand Marcos. He is also very keen on boxing and likes watching Fistorama – a popular boxing show in the 80’s. When he became older, he shifted to golf,” he fondly shared.

It was in HongKong where MVP developed his passion in playing badminton. His Chinese colleagues taught him how to play the game, and also taught him how to play the British sports Squash.

Even with his current busy schedule, he still plays badminton two or three times a week, usually after work from 9:30PM until midnight. “I play with trainers in Manila Polo Club and sometimes with university varsity players. It is great to play with athletes who are faster and better than me. This pushes me to compete at a higher standard and develops my skill far better than if I play with athletes whose skills are the same as mine,” he shared.

Asked if would ever live a life of a star sporths athlete, MVP said he would like to be a tennis player. “I still love tennis and its currently one of the most popular sports in the world,” he added.

On Supporting Sports

A staunch sports supporter, MVP aims to influence the country’s national sports associations (NSAs) in using the disciplines of business management to advance sports. “To begin with, when you look at NSAs, many of these are not well managed and well funded. I am personally committed to help enable NSAs to efficiently run their programs similar to how we do it in the business sector. NSAs should have a plan, know where to get and raise funds, and use that money effectively,” he said.

He looks forward to seeing the country’s sports industry to become at par with countries such as HongKong and Singapore.

“Sports can offer an escape from poverty like Manny Pacquaio’s success story. This is why we need to advance it further. Many Filipinos can use this as a means to rise from destitution,” he said.

On Sports and Life

“Sports is a strong metaphor for life. We win and we lose based on how we play the game,” MVP said. He stressed the importance of loving discipline, explaining that what we do in sports is exactly what we need to do in life.

“We need to be disciplined. When we succeed, enjoy and relax in the moment of triumph. When we fail, we need to recover. On both occassion, we rise and work hard again the next day,” he said.

“Any God-given talent can be awakened by discipline, focus and passion. So awaken it.” 

Related post: An Interview with Manny V. Pangilinan
 

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