PENDEG kept looking at the two rackets in his hands. These were a far cry from the one he had made from used plywood when tennis started to interest him before his teens.
These were not ordinary rackets. These were Babolat that Alex Eala, the 17-year-old Filipino tennis professional and US Open girls junior champion in 2022, has gifted him.
The rackets bear Eala’s signature, and Pendeg received them at the 10th Globe Media Excellence Awards (GMEA) held on March 31, 2023 in Cebu City.
Eala, a Globe ambassador, was not present at the GMEA. Yoly Crisanto, Globe Group chief sustainability and corporate communications officer, presented the rackets to Pendeg together with Globe's gift of an educational package that included an Acer laptop, Huawei phone, Home Prepaid Wifi, and a year’s supply of Globe Loadcards.
That Friday night, 14-year-old Ignohassan “Pendeg” Mustajid had his hands full.
He had dressed in the formal garb of a tribe from the south; in accepting the special award, he spoke his native tongue. An English translation of his speech was flashed on the screen behind him.
Pendeg is a 2019 Palarong Pambansa medalist in tennis, representing the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (Barmm). He won gold in doubles and silver in a team event.
He had first represented Barmm in the 2018 Palarong Pambansa but got eliminated. In 2019 he and his doubles partner made it all the way to the finals and top place.
The Palarong Pambansa is an annual state-funded sporting event participated by school athletes from the 17 regions of the country. Provinces take turns hosting the 10-day event. No cash prizes are given to the medalists but the local governments can exercise discretion of giving them cash incentives.
After 2019, the Palaro was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The next schedule is yet to be announced by the Department of Education (DepEd), which organizes and governs the games.
Tennis, be it recreational or competitive, is an expensive sport to play. The rackets, the shoes, and other gear plus the court charges can drain one’s pockets.
Pendeg, who began his tennis fascination when he first served as a ballboy at seven years old, was resourceful enough to be able to play. He borrowed rackets and used discarded balls. At one time, he made himself his own tennis racket from used plywood.
His parents can barely make ends meet. His father works as a porter at the public market and his mother is a laundrywoman. He is the second of four children. The family lives in a stilt hut.
Pendeg plays in small tennis competitions to hone his strokes and footwork. He turns over his cash prizes to his parents.
The Barmm had given the 2019 Palarong Pambansa medalists cash incentives. Pendeg received P20,000 for the gold and another P15,000 for the silver. He kept only a small portion of it; the rest he gave to his father to buy a secondhand banca.
The story of Pendeg, which Mindanao-based journalist Bong Sarmiento wrote about for www.mindanews (“Bajau gold medalist: poverty pushed him to tennis”) in December 2022, had caught the interest of Globe.
At the GMEA, Globe gave special recognition to Sarmiento for the powerful sway of his story, and to Pendeg for the grit and indomitability of his spirit in overcoming the odds stacked against his young life.
“Regardless of ethnicity or any cultural differences, now I realize that dreams do really come true when you believe you can,” Pendeg said in his appreciation speech he delivered in his native language. He thanked all those who have been helping him achieve his dreams.
He was accompanied to the GMEA held at Radisson Blu by John Paul Santos, the municipal tourism officer of Mapun Island of Tawi-Tawi.
Santos said he sees a bright future for Pendeg and hopes that someone can share the boy’s dream by offering him an academic scholarship.
His rackets will take Ignohassan Mustajid to a world beyond Tawi-Tawi.