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Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Oyson: Another ‘banana’ diplomacy
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter punch
Remember what I wrote in this column on July 2, 2002? That was two months before the Asian Games then scheduled in Busan, South Korea. The title of my column was “Going bananas, anyone”? I was talking about the donation consisting of 130 cartons or fresh bananas air-freighted weekly from Davao during the Philippine team’s training in Manila. It was a donation from the Filipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association, Inc. (FBGEA) based in Davao.
The story then was that the fresh bananas would serve to sustain the nutritional requirement of the 200 Filipino athletes and 100 delegations officials to then 14th Asiad. As a doctor of the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine explained at the time, a daily diet of bananas for dessert would complete the sustenance of the Busan-bound Filipino athletes. It is also rich in potassium and fiber.
DESPITE. In the end, the Philippine athletic delegation figuratively went bananas (pun intended). A person who feels that he is “going bananas” thinks he is being driven to act somewhat like monkeys and other primates who like bananas. The Dictionary of Cliches quoted actress-singer Liza Minelli in Time Magazine of 1970, after she was moved into the sheltered Barbizon Hotel for women: “I went bananas.”
The Philippines captured only three gold medals in Busan, a two-medal improvement on its lone gold four years earlier in Bangkok. It was far from the rosy prediction of sports officials of seven to 10 golds, despite the abundance of bananas. This corner hit the nail right with a three-gold prediction for the Filipinos.
350 CASES. The athletes and officials had gone bananas by gorging on the juicy and fleshy fruits, tons of them. The FBGEA has again embarked on another banana diplomacy. It has signed another Memorandum of Agreement with the Philippine Sports Commission that would reportedly benefit the athletes bound for the Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam in December.
Starting yesterday, the national athletes and officials, numbering more than 500, were to receive 350 cases of exportable bananas during their training at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex until their departure. This is in addition to the P10 million which First Gentlemen Mike Arroyo took out from his own pocket earlier, as well as the P20 million in pledges that were also collected. Will they then improve on their fourth-place finish in Kuala Lumpur in 2001?
I have given up on my futile urgings for the scrapping of the Palarong Pambansa for the reasons I have already advanced. The PSC has said the last word. And the Palaro is go on Oct. 25-29 in Tubod, Lanao del Norte. I do not know how many regions will be participating. If only half of the 16 regions of the country will compete, mostly from Mindanao, it may just as well be called Sports For Peace.
To call it the Palarong Pambansa would be a misnomer. It will come immediately after the 3rd Mindanao Friendship Games in Mati, Davao Oriental, from Oct. 25-29. Travel time between the two places is 13 hours. Two days later will be the traditional All Saints’ Day. Apeki kaayo (too tight). I would not be surprised if there will be more participants in Mati than in Tubod.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “If sports has succeeded to bridge people of different cultures, races, and religions of the world, we see no reason it can’t succeed in Mindanao.” – PSC chair Eric Buhain
(October 7, 2003 issue)
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