More on RMSC deal keeping a piece of history

MANILA, Philippines - One could not help but feel some stirrings, some tinge of sadness, upon pondering the fate that awaits that old icon of a place in Vito Cruz, Malate.

For it seems inevitable that the 82-year-old Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) will have to go. One has to give in to the onslaught of time.

It spares no one. If it succeeded in eluding those at the helm at present, it would be hard-pressed to stay its fate with those taking over in the future.

We are probably seeing the last defiant stand of the sports complex that history built.

How sad. If Erap’s plan to unload the city ownership of the 10-hectare RMSC and convert it to a commercial complex and a mall, then the nation will surely lose the luster of its sporting past and with it a liberal portion of its heart and soul.

How sad. But it’s bound to happen.

With the merciless pace of progress gnawing at its seams, Manila officials’ “wanton” disregard for open space that would give breathing room to a crowded city, the complex itself lying in moribund state, all out demolition is not far behind.

And, ironically, its once hallowed ground that reverberated with tales of Filipino sports heroes feats will be just concrete structure with nary an echo of the past.

How sad. It’s like seeing an ancestral home being torn down, piece by piece, until its leveled and gone. Its birthing place now its own graveyard.

Still old Rizal is a Heritage place and should be covered by law to preserve the venue.

“One steps inside its old gray walls and one steps into history,” said an old hand in the Adriatico side of the compound.

Hopefully, the firm which has reportedly an inside track to the deal will have sense of history and preserve even a patch of land over the area – a remnant of the nation’s glorious past.

It’s here where Filipino athletes held their own in the 1934 Far Eastern Games when it was brand new.

It was built by then Public Works secretary Antonio delas Alas together with PAAF top honcho Jorge Vargas and designed by famous Filipino architect Juan Arellano in Art Deco.

In fact, two daughters of Delas Alas – Ching delas Alas Montinola and Menchu delas Alas Concepcion, are spearheading a move to preserve the complex or at least its facade.

The RMSC rose from the ruins after the war to host the 1954 Asian Games where the Filipinos had their finest stint, finishing with 14 gold, 1 silver and 17 bronze medals.

One of those memorable victories was fashioned out on the hardcourt of Rizal as national cagers led by Carlos “Caloy” Loyzaga and Lauro “Bay” Mumar would follow up their win in New Delhi three years earlier and lorded it over the field in the next two Asiads.

There was also the heroic stints of Pinoy boxers who would win five of seven finals they contended in, stoking the passion for the cruel sport that produced two of the nation’s three Olympic silver medals through Anthony Villanueva and Onyok Velasco.

Memories of these feats abound in the place. Canlubang built its baseball dynasty at its ballpark whose walls still carried the names of baseball legends.

And who would ever forget the memorable runs of Inocencia Solis and Asian golden girl Lydia de Vega over its tartan track and the winning bids of Haydee Coloso and Jocelyn Von Geese in swimming.

And long before Hidilyn Diaz put the sport of weightlifting into the nation’s consciousness, winning the silver medal in the recent Rio Olympics, there were two gallant lifters who had toiled and pursued their dreams and claimed their niche in the confines of Rizal – Rodrigo del Rosario and nephew Salvador del Rosario.

Rodrigo del Rosario was the only Filipino Olympic record holder, achieving the feat in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, submitting 105kg press before finishing fourth in the featherweight division.

Salvador del Rosario first won the gold in the World Championship in Columbus, Ohio in 1970 in the 52-kg class with 130 kg press and the bronze in the snatch with 95 kg. Although he finished fourth, he was later awarded the world title when the top three finishers were disqualified allegedly for drugs use.

The Del Rosarios would later work as security guard and an usher in Rizal and would eventually retire, poor and forgotten.

The RMSC also hosted international meets, like the 1981 and 1991 Southeast Asian Games and the 1995 edition where the Philippines won the overall title.

If RMSC would be torn down, hopefully the developer, reportedly a group led by businessman and golf patron Ricky Razon, would heed the call of the Delas Alas sisters by sparing its facade and, in the process, preserving a remnant of its glorious past.

Old Rizal is not only a venue or ancient structure on the verge collapse.

It’s a shrine that pays tribute to the Filipino spirit, a cradle of all things great in us.