Ex-Olympian Boholano boxer receives fishing boat from governor Yap

MINERVA BC NEWMAN

BOHOL – A former Olympian Boholano boxer who retired from boxing four decades ago and now catches fish for family livelihood has finally gotten what he has been longing for—a fishing boat.

According to Ven Arigo of the Provincial Information and Media Relations (PRIMER) office that no less than governor Arthur Yap turned over the fishing boat to Teogenes Peligrino Wednesday, January 20 at the Capitol but later it was delivered to Peligrino’s home in Barangay Basdio, Guindulman, Bohol as a fulfilment of the governor’s promise to Peligrino in December last year.

Peligrino is now 70 years old and governor Yap couldn’t believe that the well-built man in front of him was an Olympian yet underrated boxer in the country.  “How on earth did we have our very own Olympian and not know about it?” Yap asked surprisingly.

Arigo went on that Peligrino fondly shared his journey to the Olympics to the governor way back in 1967 when he fought a Korean national, he was 18 years old with nothing but pure guts and sheer skills.  He bagged the Silver Medal, he said.

Peligrino happily reminisced with pride in his eyes being a finalist at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, even if he failed to get a medal, Arigo went on that Peligrino fought 32 professional fights and reached the number three rating in the featherweight division when he decided to retire from boxing, settle down. He then returned to Guindulman,

Peligrino recalled that after the Asian Games he stayed in Manila while waiting for the reward the late President Ferdinand Marcos promised him, but according to the boxer, he went home after three weeks of waiting for nothing.  He said, he was crestfallen.

According to Peligrino that he had been fishing since he retired and just two years ago, his fishing boat gave up on him.  He said that he had been asking for assistance from the Capitol before Yap’s administration. 

Yap, in his social media post recalled his chance meeting with Peligrino in December last year and after listening to him intimately, he cannot understand why this is how an Olympian, who brought honor into the province was treated.

Arigo said that the governor wanted to give but Peligrino just asked the governor one thing and that is to have a new fishing boat for him to continue what he loves doing aside from boxing which is fishing.

True to his word in just a month, Yap granted Peligrino' wish for a brand-new fishing boat which the governor requested from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) here which brought delight to the Olympian’s face.

Seeing the happiness in Peligrino’s face Yap muttered in a low voice, “This is one of the reasons why I am a public servant."

Then Gov. Edgar Chatto, now First District congressman also honored Peligrino during the Bohol Day Celebration in 2015. (Photos: PRIMER)