ON January 17, 2017, my maternal uncle, Emmanuel “Emmet” Lagdameo Penson, passed away. He was 60. He is Emmet to his peers, friends and siblings and Papa or Dad to his children. To us his nephews and nieces, he is Tito Emmet.
One of Tito Emmet’s passions was sports. He worked for the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) from 1995 to 1998. After his stint with the PSC, he put up Team Ventures to organize and manage sports events like the Adidas Streetball Challenge and Adidas King of the Road.
Sports wasn’t only a passion for Tito Emmet, it was also an advocacy. In 2011, Tito Emmet through his company Team Ventures Inc., organized and managed a fun run “Mission: EO 255.” The run was meant to draw attention to the need to provide more opportunities for Filipino music to be heard over the airwaves in compliance with Executive Order (EO) 255 issued by former President Corazon Aquino in 1987.
According to an Interaksyon online article dated May 13, 2014 the “run-jog-walk advocacy event’s message is music to OPM artists’ ears.”
Tito Emmet said “the challenge is that talk shows are a big hit in radio stations right now, music is just secondary. Bihira nalang magpatugtog ng music” on behalf of the OPM during a Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum. “Nawawala na `yung music-oriented format, so lalong nababawasan din ang opportunities to play Filipino music.”
With the proliferation of radio talk shows, playing music has become a distant second. Maybe it should be the other way around. Maybe radio talk shows should be secondary to playing music and not just music but Filipino music. EO 255 requires all radio stations both AM and FM to play at least four Filipino songs every hour. Other advocacies of Tito Emmet were wheelchairs for PWDs or differently-abled persons and soup kitchens or “Midnight Mana” as he would call it to feed our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
Tito Emmet was a true sportsman. Several months ago, his alma mater, San Beda College, cited him for his work advancing San Beda sports. He was a member of the school’s swimming team and even dabbled in stage acting. He played Jesus Christ in the play “Jesus Christ Superstar” when he was attending Notre Dame in Caloocan.
Most of the PSC-Philippine Olympic Committee press corps knew Tito Emmet, which isn’t a surprise because of his outgoing and friendly personality. Business Mirror Sports Editor Jun Lomibao who was then a member of the PSC-POC press corps remembers Tito Emmet: “Emmet, I knew then, worked quietly. He talked a lot and smiled a lot as well.”
We bade Tito Emmet farewell last Sunday. Twelve years ago, my maternal grandfather, Papa Ciling Penson, passed away. Papa Ciling and Tito Emmet are together keeping each other company.