1Pacman ensures more opportunities for PH sports glory
In June, 1Pacman party-list Rep. Mikee Romero’s passion for youth and sports development, social welfare, and economic empowerment takes new energies.
The successful businessman and sports patron, who served for nine years in Congress, passes the torch to his daughter Milka, an award-winning sports, socio-civic, and business leader who has pledged to build on her father’s legacy of lawmaking and public service.
She is running in the May elections as the first nominee of the 1Pacman party-list alongside second nominee Bobby Pacquiao, brother of boxing icon and former senator Manny Pacquiao.
The elder Romero, recognized in the business world for his involvement in industries such as aviation, shipping, logistics, port services, energy, and real estate, is equally prominent in Philippine sports due to his support for multiple athletic disciplines, particularly basketball.
The Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) has dubbed Mikee Romero the “Godfather of Philippine Amateur Basketball” for his support for the sport which has resulted in the Philippines regaining crowns in Asian basketball.
He is also an athlete who played basketball for De La Salle University and later owned and managed the Harbour Centre basketball team, a seven-time champion of the Philippine Basketball League until 2009.
He supported the Philippine teams that won the 2007 Southeast Asian Games and the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (SEABA) championships.
He also joined the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) with his Newport team, later known as GlobalPort Batang Pier, establishing himself as a leading figure in the professional league.
Romero, also a patron of other sports such as volleyball, cycling, polo, shooting, and baseball, highlights the victory of Gilas Pilipinas at the Asian Games basketball title in Hangzhou, China in 2022 as a significant milestone in Philippine basketball.
“This was a turning point for the resurgence of Philippine basketball,” Romero said.
The key to the victory over Lebanon, which ended a six-decade title drought in the Asian Games, was Justin Brownlee’s 20-point performance. This was made possible by his naturalization as a Filipino citizen, which allowed him to qualify for the national team.
Romero was also the driving force behind the law that granted Brownlee Filipino citizenship. This citizenship law, along with the Eddie Garcia Law, which mandated safety protections for workers in the film and entertainment industry, is among the more than 140 laws authored or sponsored by Romero during his nine years as a 1Pacman party-list lawmaker.
A former Deputy Speaker of the House, Romero chaired the House committee on poverty alleviation in this previous term and achieved an evident increase in the allocation for needy families under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps.
He also embarked on the highly successful Save-A-Heart program that has funded diagnostic, surgery, and post-operative care of some 2,000 children with heart ailments belonging to needy families. With her father’s prolific record in legislation and public service, Milka Romero has big shoes to fill.
However, the elder Romero is confident that the youthful Milka is up to the task.
“She shares my advocacies, maybe even more passionately. And she has the youth and the energy to pull it off,” he said.
Milka, who was a member of the national team for women’s football and who now owns the Capital1 Solar Spikers that plays in the Philippine Volleyball League, is a sought-after speaker on women empowerment and entrepreneurship.
At age 19, she started her own business and now, at 31, is chief of the Miro Group of Companies that has introduced 10 concepts on food in the Philippine market.
A reservist with the Philippine Navy, she has recently added running 10 kilometers to her exercise routine. This lends a fitting metaphor that shows Milka is ready to run the mile to achieve what needs to be done to bring more sporting glory for health, fitness, and honor to the country.
