A FILIPINA PARALYMPIC LEGEND
[PHOTO -Adeline
Dumapong-Ancheta during a break while training at the Pelaez Sports Center,
Cagayan de Oro City]
CAGAYN DE ORO CITY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2012 (YAHOO ASIA NEWS) By Cong
B. Corrales, VERA Files - The metal plates clanked as the trainer slid two
additional 25-pound weights on both ends of the Olympic bar, adding to the four
45-pound rubber weights already on it. The powerlifter, lying on her back on the
bench, carefully adjusted her hands on the bar and then took a deep breath
before lifting the almost 250 pounds of weights and bar, away from her chest
thrice.
It was the last bench-press for the peak of the training program of
39-year-old Adeline Dumapong-Ancheta, who has been preparing to compete in the
Paralympic Games in London to be held from Aug. 29 to Sept. 9. Five days every
week since April, trainer Marlon Tajale pushed and goaded Dumapong-Ancheta to
ace her powerlifting program prepared by her coach and champion powerlifter
Ramon Debuque.
Dumapong-Ancheta and her assistant stand out amid the male bodybuilders and
trainers at the massive Misamis Oriental Fitness Gym at the Pelaez Sports
Center. Tajale, who has co-managed the gym since 2007, said no other woman who
frequents the gym could lift the weight Dumapong-Ancheta has lifted.
"It is important to have a regular coach in my conditioning because he can
push me harder when I feel weak. It is a struggle every day," she said, wiping
beads of sweat from her forehead and taking a swig of her mineral
water."Sometimes I get so tired my flesh twitches,but I want to give people
something to celebrate about."
Dumapong-Ancheta may be the Philippines' best chance of winning a Paralympic
medal. She holds the distinction of being the first and only Filipino
Paralympian medalist ever, winning the bronze in the 2000 Paralympic Games in
Sidney, Australia after beating the world powerliftingchampion. This year, her
goal is to bring home the gold.
A hard life
[PHOTO - THE PHILIPPINE PARALYMPICS DELEGATES]
Winning another medal would be sweet victory for Dumapong-Ancheta, who
contracted the poliovirus or infantile paralysis when she was three years old.
The World Health Organization describes polio or poliomyelitis as "a highly
infectious disease caused by a virus" that enters the body through the mouth and
multiplies in the intestine. It then invades the nervous system and can cause
total paralysis within hours. Polio can lead to death when the breathing muscles
become immobilized.
Children five years old and below are most vulnerable to the virus. Polio has
no cure but can be prevented by taking a polio vaccine in multiple doses.
Dumapong-Ancheta was born in Kiangan, Ifugao Province on December 13, 1973 to
a father who was a mid-level public servant with not enough resources to support
six children. Her parents had to make a painful decision.
"I remember my father and mother arguing whether to leave me in a dormitory
for persons with disability (PWDs) or grow-up in Kiangan. I remember my father
telling my mother that my staying in Kiangan would be selfish for them," recalls
Dumapong-Ancheta, the third in the brood.
She was sent to a dormitory for PWDs called Bahay Mapagmahal in Quezon City,
ran by sisters of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, where she grew up.
"Looking back, Sister Roos Catry—a Belgian missionary—really played a major
role during my formative years," said Dumapong-Ancheta. Catry, she said, was a
disciplinarian but a loving counselor.
Dumapong-Ancheta completed her elementary and secondary education at the
School for the Crippled Children of the Philippine Orthopedic Center in Quezon
City. In 1995, she earned a degree in Computer Science from St. Paul University,
which also awarded her "Best Thesis."
Life lessons in sports
Dumapong-Ancheta said she has always been into sports. She competed
in other events such as swimming, wheelchair racing, wheelchair basketball, and
athletics (shot put).
"We were always encouraged to take up sports at the Bahay Mapagmahal. I hate
feeling helpless and sports taught me to be palaban(a fighter)," she said,
adding she also had her share of teasing and discrimination.
She recalled an incident at a mall in Manila when a curious child touched her
wheelchair. Suddenly the mother yanked her daughter away from Dumapong-Ancheta
mumbling, "Huwag kang lumapit baka mahawa ka (Don't come near her, you might get
infected)."
"I don't just stay a victim. Palaban ako(I fight),"Dumapong-Ancheta said.
Much to the mother's shame, Dumapong-Ancheta ended up lecturing her on the
rights and realities of PWDs. "I told her polio is not infectious."
Although Dumapong-Ancheta was infected when she was three, she is no longer a
carrier of the virus, which is passed on by those infected for a week to 10 days
before the disease sets. Carriers discharge the virus in their stools for up to
six weeks.
Problems continued to hound Dumapong-Ancheta through her married life. Her
husband left her and their 10-year old daughter in 2005 for another woman.
"Sumakabilang-bahay," she jokes.
"After the separation, I was a psychological mess. This sport (powerlifting)
helped me a lot in my recovery," Dumapong-Ancheta recalled.
Last Paralympics
Dumapong-Ancheta started taking powerlifting seriously only when she was 23.
"I realized I had the strength, and frankly I did not really excel in shot put."
Two years later, in 1999, she won the gold medal in the Asian Bench-press
Championships in Manila. That same year, she won the silver medal in the Far
East and South Pacific Games in Bangkok, Thailand.
After 15 years as a world-class athlete in powerlifting, with an impressive
portfolio of 10 gold medals and three silver medals from various competitions,
and a bronze medal in the 2000 Paralympic Games, Dumapong-Ancheta said this
year's Paralympic Games in London will be her last.
"I'm planning to retire next year. Maybe I'll coach or shift to other
sports—archery or bowling," she mused.
Dumapong-Ancheta with the Philippine delegates to the 2012 Paralympic Games
in London …
Dumapong-Ancheta is currently based in Cagayan de Oro City. She is the
executive director of Freedom Technology Wheelchair Foundation, Inc., a
non-profit corporation that makes wheelchairs.
Funded initially by Handicap International Fund of the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), the Foundation is the only wheelchair
production center in the country, and provides wheelchairs in accordance with
guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
"Lessons in sports can be applied in dealing with pain—the joy of winning and
pain of losing," Dumapong-Ancheta said. It is a truism that has served her well,
both in sports, and in life.
(This story is part of Reporting on Persons With Disability, a project of
VERA Files in partnership with The Asia Foundation and Australian Agency for
International Development. VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a
deeper look at current issues. VERA is Latin for "true.")
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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