STILL to be officially sworn into office by Malacanang, newly-appointed Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Richard “Dickie” Bachmann skipped yesterday’s weekly flag-raising ceremony that would have marked his first day of office as the head of the government sports agency.
Instead, it was newly-appointed Commissioners Walter Torres and Edward Hayco who were introduced to the PSC personnel during the event held inside the Rizal Memorial Coliseum because of the inclement weather.
Citing their sports backgrounds, Commissioner Bong Coo welcomed Torres and Hayco to the PSC family and then gave them a tour of the PSC administrative building where each of them will have their respective offices on the fourth floor.
“Chairman Bachmann did not come to work today because he wanted to take his oath first,” said Coo, adding Bachmann was supposed to take his oath at the Palace yesterday.
Bachmann, Torres and Hayco were issued their appointment papers last Dec. 23, with the two commissioners being sworn into office by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin at Malacanang last Dec. 28.
Coo said that Bachmann, a former pro player and team manager of the defunct Alaska team who was out of the country when the announcement of his appointment was made, might report to work today once he takes his oath.
Bachmann is the younger sibling of Philippine Squash Academy President Robert Bachmann who, some quarters said, was earlier bruited as a top candidate for the PSC top post.
The younger Bachmann takes over from Noli Eala, who served as the head of the government sports agency for six months.
“My heart is really into grassroots sports,” said Hayco, 64, a longtime chairman of the Cebu City Sports Commission before being appointed to his new job.
He is considered Cebu’s “father of dancesport,” having provided free dance lessons for the past 24 years to 40,000 scholars, most, if not all, coming from poor families in metropolitan Cebu.
Among Hayco’s proteges is Wilbert Aunzo, a former out-of-school scavenger who partnered with Pearl Marie Caneda to bag gold medals in the cha-cha, rumba and samba events of the dancesport competitions of the 2019 Philippine Southeast Asian Games.
Torres, the national team chief of mission of the national contingent in the 2022 Asean Para Games in Solo, Indonesia that bagged 28 gold, 36 silver and 46 medals, implored the prayers and support of the PSC rank-and-file in his new job.
“I would like to ask your prayer and support so we can boost each other. May we experience the profound joy of serving the deep hunger of our (national) athletes,” said Torres, a former national fencer who bagged a total of four gold medals in the 1991 Manila, 1993 Singapore and 1995 Chiang Mai Southeast Asian Games.
