Brian Poe with student athletes from Grace Poe’s home province, Iloilo.
Brian Poe-Llamanzares attended the Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association Meet and delivered the Keynote Address, mentioning that his roots also come from this region.
“I feel so at home here. After all, Senator Grace Poe is from Iloilo and my lola, Susan Roces, is from Bacolod,” he said,
Poe-Llamanzares was invited by the Department of Education because of his extensive work in helping grow the sports industry and giving opportunities to young people through scholarships and other programs under the FPJ Panday Bayanihan Foundation.
In his speech, Brian highlighted the importance of sports in the development of Filipino students,
“What’s beautiful about sports are the values we see in our athletes, discipline, and dedication — two things that are important in sports but even more so in life,” he said.
He explained that he believes that sports can be a great way to mold the future leaders of the country, citing Hidilyn Diaz and Manny Pacquiao as examples of Filipino excellence in athleticism.
He went on to explain how he understands the frustrations of the sports community, which is why the FPJ Panday Bayanihan Foundation has sponsored the UP Cebu Basketball team and numerous MMA fighters.
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He explained that he also invested in Ang Liga the country’s largest collegiate football league, and the first professional 7 aside football league in the country, the 7s football league, which allows cities and municipalities to compete against each other.
Brian Poe deliver’s keynote address
Through the help of his good friend Mark Patron, Poe-Llamanzares also supports the FPJ Cup, a grassroots basketball league in Batangas. He explained that this league was created to encourage the youth at the grassroots level to keep active. It also pushes local government units to invest in sports and wellness.
Poe-Llamanzares says his passion for sports comes from being a former athlete in college and having competed in the national games in Bacolod for fencing.
He recounted his experience as an athlete, jokingly saying that he may not look like it now, but at one point he was even a champion powerlifter bagging the gold medal in the Philippine opens for bench press in his weight division during his senior year of college.
He ended by saying he hopes to push for more opportunities for young athletes whether it be through his private efforts as an entrepreneur and philanthropist or as a public servant.
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“We need to increase the number of sports programs. Aside from the initiatives of FPJ Panday Bayanihan Foundation, we also rely on our friends in government to increase the number of opportunities for student-athletes,” he said.