54. Olympic Weightlifter PEDRO LANDERO, Asia's Senior Strongman (1950-1956)

At the Weightlifting finals in the bantamweight division at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, a stocky Filipino—balding, short in stature, almost 39 years old, considered  rather advanced in age for the sports—stunned the audience when he placed 6^th overall after all his lifts were totaled. PEDRO LANDERO, born on 19 Oct. 1913, was the oldest among the competitors who placed in the Top 12, most of whom were just in their 20s and early 30s. So to barge into the Top 6 was no mean feat, but a  small victory in itself, for in so doing,  he also set a new bantamweight record lift  that would endure for years.

There is scant information about Landero’s beginnings but we do know he was trained under Prof. Candido Bartolome, considered the father of Physical Education of the Philippines. The American-schooled professor established the Department of Physical Education at the University of the Philippines and acted as head of the country’s delegation to the Olympics. He taught Landero and classmates Reynaldo Perez, Ruperto Villamor, Jose Chen and Esmeraldo Eco how to do gymnastic stunts for events and socials. They once entertained 700 guests at a rooftop garden party hosted by the  U.P. President Bienvenido Gonzales on 24 June 1939, which received much praises.

Weightlifting was not Landero’s first sport---it was wrestling. He joined the Ben Gallegos Club (BGC), which was a gym club that trained its members and fielded them to various competitions—from weightlifting, physical culture contests, to wrestling. He participated in  wrestling tournaments  and began winning most matches.

At the 1948 National Wrestling Championship, he represented his club and won the Bantamweight division title, by decisioning AFPs’ Lt. J. Carreon after 15 minutes of strenuous wrestling. The next year, at the 1949 Wrestling Championship, he would retain that title by default—when his opponent did not show up. That’s when he realized perhaps, that wrestling was a sport that held little to Filipinos. Fewer contestants signed up for the tournament this year and that the same old names—Landero, Luna, Bernabe and Florendo—keep dominating the events, due to the absence of competition.

 In 1950, Landero made a major career shift and decided to join the 1950 National Weightlifting Championships—he had been lifting heavy weights at Javier Brothers Gym for some time now,  as part of his wrestling training, so it wouldn’t hurt if he tried another sport that called for a show of lifting strength. On April 16, he joined 32 lifters from schools and clubs at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum to test how far he could go in this new endeavor.

With a body weight of 136 pounds, he qualified for the Lightweight Division, ten went on to surprise himself with a 3^rd place finish, lifting a combined total (press, snatch, jerk) of 600 lbs. The unattached lifter, Luis Dumag won the Gold with his 625 lbs. effort, followed by Gervacio Canlas of BGC with a 620 lbs. lift.

Thus began an unexpected journey to the sport of weightlifting. He made so muchprogress that in a year, he was handpicked, along with Rodrigo del Rosario, to compete in the inaugural multi-sports continental games--the 1^st Asian Games in New Delhi, India. His lucky streak continued as he bagged his first international weightlifting medal—a Bronze—in the bantamweight class (56 kg.) . Gold and Silver went to Mahmoud Namjoo and Ali Mirzaei, both Iranians, whom he would meet again in the premiere sporting event of all—the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

 In Finland, Landero had to yield the spotlight to the biggest star of the Philippine weightlifting stage, Rodrigo del Rosario, who held multiple current national records.  There, at the Messuhalli  Exhibition Hall, del Rosario shone his brightest, placing fourth  in the featherweight class, his best Olympic finish, setting a world record in the military press portion, in the process.  

Lost in the hoopla of del Rosario’s triumph was the remarkable 6^th place finish of 39 year-old bantamweight Landero in a field of 19 starters,  one of only 2 senior lifters who completed their lifts (2 lifters from Japan and Romania dropped out). The other was Germany’s Josef Schuster, age 46, but he ended a distant 14^th. Gold went to Russian Ivan Udodov (age 28), while Iran’s Namjoo (age 34)  and Mirzaei (age 23) claimed Silver and Bronze.

Though Del Rosario got the lion’s share of sports fans’ attention, Landero’s top 6 finish was, to him, a cherished one. He vowed to train harder, as has already set his sight on the next Olympics, in Melbourne. The 2^nd Asian Games hosted by Manila in 1954 was another chance to chase weightlifting honors, but it was Rodolfo Caparas who battled it out at the bantamweight finals and won a prized Silver. Landero opted to wait for the 1955 National Weightlifting Championships where he moved up to the featherweight class—and clinched the title, along with lightweight Kuan Sun, middleweight Higinio Villar, and middle-heavyweight Manuel Tan.

That win became Landero’s passport to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the first to be held outside Europe. It is also known for the multi-nation boycotts that marred the Games. But yesteryear’s sports fans remember it for early exit of the now 43 year old Landero who was expected to do well. He opted to start his Press lift at 95 kgs. , but failed not once, but thrice. Thus, Landero could no longer proceed and bowed out of contention. He was declared retired. From 6^th place in Helsinki, he finished last in 16^th place. American Charles Vinci topped the bantamweight division that year. Landero’s   ignominous defeat led to his decision to retire permanently from weightlifting.

After the Olympics, not much was heard about his life, his family, and even his eventual passing. Landero seemed to have gone from a place of renown  to complete obscurity. But certainly, what will not pass into oblivion is Pedro Landero’s  weightlifting legacy, achieved in his maturity and reaching its peak in his seniority, proving to all that in the pursuit of excellence, age is no barrier.

SOURCES:

“U. P. President and Mrs. Gonzalez To Entertain for Faculty “, The Tribune, 22 Jun. 1939, p. 5

“1948 Wrestling Championship”, The Filipino Athlete,, May 1948, p. 11

“1949 Wrestling Championship”, The Filipino Athlete, June 1949, p. 16

“Winners of the 1955 National Weightlifting Championship”, PROGRESS 1955

1951 Asian Games, Wikipedia

1952 Helsinki Oympic Games, Wikipedia

1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, Wikipedia

Photo: Olympedia, Pedro Landero, https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/56489

Udodov, Namjoo,

30. STAN CARBUNGCO: Our Mr. Philippines Who Rocked the Universe!

It’s not just our Philippine queens who are ruling pageants, this Pinoy muscleman made waves in a world bodybuilding tilt!

The icon of Philippine bodybuilding, Estanislao “Stan” Carbungco was born on 13 Nov. 1931, the youngest of 7 children to Don Ambrosio Ocampo Carbungco with roots in Porac, and Doña Angelina Cuenco. His father, a former chef of Casino Español for 8 years, was a successful restaurateur, founder of the popular Carbungco Restaurant, a renown catering and dining place in pre-war Manila, with a branch in Antipolo.

Though the young Stan Carbungco was raised in a comfortable household, he learned from his father the value of hard work, who had no qualms washing dishes and doing menial jobs in his own restaurant.

He spent his school years at the Far Eastern University, where he finished high school. He would later finish his Commerce degree at the same university.

Sickly growing up, Stan Carbungco was plagued with all sorts of illnesses like typhoid and pneumonia. At age 20, the weakling weighed only 89 pounds. He began doing weight training in a gym that his neighbor owned. Carbungco became so good at it that he was soon immersing himself deeply in physical culture. His parents did not exactly approve of his interest in bodybuilding, which was not a common sport at that time.

The only visible musclemen in the 50s was Jesus Ramos, Mr. Philippines of 1951, who became a certified star after appearing in a series of jungle movies, and dubbed as the Philippine Tarzan. His contemporary, Arlen Quindoy Aguilar. did good as well, using bodybuilding as a stepping stone to showbiz. The former Mr. Luzon assumed the screen name Cesar Ramirez and starred in the big budget 1951 film, “Bernardo Carpio” opposite Alicia Vergel, who would become his wife. Then there was Olympian Rodrigo del Rosario, who, en route to  placing fourth in the 1952 Helsinki Olympics,  set a world and Olympic record in the military press portion of his event.

Hoping to join competitions, Carbungco continued to train in secret. In 1954, he qualified for the Mr. Philippines bodybuilding contest, and to his surprise, won his first of second Mr. Philippine titles. He would duplicate that achievement by winning the Mr. Philippines title yet again in 1959, pipping Manuel Hernandez in the finals with the slimmest of margins—225 to 224 points. 1959 would prove to be his most successful year.

It was an exciting time for a 28 year old to fly to Montreal, Canada as the first ever country representative to the 1959 Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest. This premiere event was organized by the International Federation of Body Building and Fitness. He travelled alone to Canada braving the winter cold, without a retinue to assist him, but that did not seem to faze him. He not only made bodybuilding friends from around the world—but also history for Asian sports.

At the exciting finals held on 25 January 1959, Carbungco placed 1^st as the Most Muscular in the Medium class division, and earned runner-up honors to Mr. Universe Medium class. In the overall class, the unheralded athlete was named second Most Muscular after Eddie Silvestre of the U.S., who went on to become Mr. Universe. With his placement, Carbungco became the first Filipino and only Asian to break into the winning circle, a feat unprecedented at that time.

From Montreal, the Filipino muscleman went to New York where event sponsor Getz Bros., distributor of Borden Milk, feted all the winners at the Waldorf Astoria. Upon his return, Carbungco made a major shift by concentrating on weightlifting rather than bodybuilding.

It was an opportune time as the 1960 Rome Olympics were coming up, and he was hoping to follow the footsteps of the prodigious Rodrigo del Rosario who, 8 years before, pressed 231 ¼ lbs. , a new Olympic Mark in his featherweight division. He began powerlifting, and at one point, he was lifting weights that would have been good for Olympic bronze or silver.

Indeed, Carbungco was being touted as a sure Olympic bet and medalist in weightlifting, but his Olympic dreams were dashed when, after appearing in a print ad for boat motors, he lost his amateur status for being paid as an endorser.

Carbungco was sadly frustrated over this disqualification, but never looked back. Instead, he stepped up his efforts to promote the sports of bodybuilding like never before.  After his competitive days were over,  he put up a weight and fitness center, ‘Stan Carbungco’s  Gym”, in Quezon City where he personally trained and mentored many young physical culturists.  

To meet the growing needs for gym equipment, Carbungco pioneered the local manufacture of weight-training equipment and gear in the Philippines.  The well-patronized gym had a loyal following, and the hallowed institution for bodybuilding has been in operation for over 50 years now.

All his life, Carbungco devoted his time and effort to the fitness sport he loved. For many years he headed the Philippine Federation of Body Builders, an official affiliate of IFBB which fields Filipino bodybuilders to various competitions abroad. He co-founded the Powerlifting Association of the Philippines (PAP) in 1982. He never forgot the sports that made him famous too. At the remarkable age of 60, he could still snatch a 110 pound barbell with relative ease.

Fifty years after his victory in Canada, he would return to his place of victory where some of his children were settled. There, he would try to locate his fellow bodybuilders whom he competed against, way back in 1959. He was saddened to find that all have gone before him, leaving him as the lone survivor from that golden age of competitive bodybuilding.

The legendary bodybuilder, “Mang  Stan” as he was fondly called in his later years, passed away at age 81 on 10 March 2012. He left behind his wife, Edna Oquendo-Carbungco and their children, and a legacy of health and fitness that he passionately pursued, and which continue to inspire Philippine sports to this day.

SOURCES: 

Sibug, Edgardo. “PORAC: A Rancheria at Batiauwan 1594-2004”, © 2003. p. 280

FB Interview with Mr. Tiny Carbungco, son of Stan Carbungco

Tiny Carbungco FB Page

Jeffrey dePadua Panela

Lolo Stan Carbungco Tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef9a9q9g3f4

Uploaded by Grace Carbungco, published April 3, 2012.

Stan Carbungco tribute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7hqbaut5UI

Uploaded by Beng Gonzales, published 22 March 20102, accessed 2 Nov, 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodybuilding_in_the_Philippines

http://www.philippinewatchclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=13717

Iron Pinoy : https://issuu.com/ironpinoy/docs/ipmag2011may-june/29

https://issuu.com/ironpinoy/docs/ipmag2011may-june/29

https://www.ironpinoy.com/a-short-history-of-philippine-powerlifting/

14. THE FIRST MR. PHILIPPINES 1926: JOSE MARIA BARREDO

In the 1926 edition of the Manila Carnival, it was announced that aside from the regular search for the Manila Carnival Queen, another beauty will be chosen with the first ever title of “Miss Philippines”. To complement the crowning of the first Miss Philippines won by Anita Noble of Batangas, a contest was  held by Carnival authorities to look for “the most perfect Filipino”, that is, “Mr. Philippines”, via a Physical Development Contest.

“The Most Perfect Filipino”.

An unprecedented number of contestants came forward—all 45 of them, and in the end, a 19-year old engineering student of the University of the Philippines was elected as the 1^st Mr. Philippines—JOSE MARIA BARREDO of Manila. Jose’s  muscled and toned body impressed the judges, for he was largely self-taught, learning from physical culture magazines, reading barbell instruction manuals, and engaging in all kinds of sports.

The son of Don Fausto Alonso Barredo of Manila and Carmen Seoane Fargas of Zamboanga, Jose Maria Barredo (b. ca. 1907) was to wealth and privilege born. His father was a successful business magnate who operated Malate Garage and Auto Repair Shop, the largest institution of its kind in the Philippines, and owned a taxi and car rental company that serviced the Manila insular government. It was said that Mr. Barredo owned half of Malate, with his real estate property consisting of 25 buildings in that district alone. These allowed the Barredo siblings, Manuel, Eduardo, Jose Maria and Carmen, to enroll in the country’s best schools.

A Sports Jock Rocks the School!

The young Jose had always loved sports and the great outdoors. His first love was Tennis,  but in La Salle College, he took up football in his intermediate grades. When he transferred to the University High School in 1920, he became a member of the prize-winning basketball team.

At age 17, he started reading about he lives and works of great athletes like the late Eugene Sandow, Liederman and Strongfort. This inspired him to study physical culture, by following the regimen shared by these strong men  and even reading the manuals of the Milo Barbells company.

In 6 months, his bodybuilding yielded great results merely from barbell exercises. He could lift and jerk 120 pounds overhead with one hand and snatch 85 with one hand-- more that the average Filipino can do.

At the University, Barredo developed his all-around athletic prowess even more. In 1921, Barredo became the Junior Singles National Champion in tennis, which he held for 3 straight years. He joined UP’s Unit One swimming squad that emerged as intramural champions.  While there, he dabbled in wrestling and boxing. He also joined the football, basketball, and the university’s gymnastic team, these, while pursuing bodybuilding—which had become his more regular interest.

In his case, Barredo avers that he finds it more healthful to exercise early in the morning before breakfast. Except when he has burnt the midnight oil on account of a quiz the following morning, he exercised every day.

Beefcakes at the Carnival

Known to friends as a bashful young man not given to boasting, it was a surprise that Barredo agreed to participate in the Physical Development Contest at the 1926 Manila Carnival. The physique contest required him to show off his well-sculpted body, along with other muscled beefcakes from every part of the archipelago. In the final judging, it was Barredo who stood out and named Mr. Philippines, and the tale of the tape told it all.

Tipping the scales at 140 pounds, Barredo was all muscles—from his pecs and chest that could expand out to a girth of 41 ½ inches, biceps of almost 15 inches, rock-hard abdominals, 22 inch thighs, a waist of just 27 ½ inches, all packed in his 5’5 ½ feet frame.

It also helped that Barredo, with his mestizo features, was an audience favorite. Within the last few days of his proclamation as “Mr. Philippines”, he received hundreds of congratulatory letters, many coming from young ladies, known and unknown to the “famous strong man”. Although not altogether displeased, Barredo said “he was not that strong for that kind of stuff”. But he added:  “Of course, every great undertaking is inspired by an outside force”.

Beauty and Brawn, Muscle and Music

Barredo earned a Civil Engineering degree from the U.P. and became a contractor. One of his first projects was the Jesuit novitiate in Novaliches. He was also named Assistant Manager of his father’s many enterprises.

At another Carnival edition, he met Isabel delos Reyes, daughter of Isabelo delos Reyes, nationalist, politician, writer, and labor activist. She had been a princess (“dama de honor”) in the court of the 1929 Carnival Queen, Pacita delos Reyes, but resigned her title over the objections of St. Therese's College nuns.   The two would eventually get married on 7 June 1930. They made  their home on Dakota St., in Malate, with their 2 sons.

Barredo forayed into classical music in his mid 20s, drawn to musical theater and the operas. With his fine yet forceful tenor voice, he was cast as the captain of the guards in Giuseppe Verdi’s opus , “Aida”, that was locally staged  in 1933 at the Manila Grand Opera House, and presented by the Manila Chamber Music Society. The opera was a big hit and would be restaged in 1938 with the same cast.

The Manila Musical Guild, of which he was a founding member, often hosted monthly concerts at the Barredo home. Up until the coming of the war, Barredo sang in charity events, radio shows and performed in operas like “Cavalleria Rusticana” (1935) and “Il Trovatore” (1939).

Barredo resided much of his life in Malate and became an active member of the Rotary Club in the 1970s, where he would lead sing-alongs with the the members and the community.  His niece, Carmen Johnson Barredo, popularly known as Baby Barredo, is the co-founder of Repertory Philippines, producer of stage luminaries like Monique Wilson and Lea Salonga.

SOURCES:

Jose P. Bautista, “Introducing Mr. Philippines”, The  Sunday Tribune, 14 Feb. 1926, p. 7

“Malate Garage, Taxicab Company, Keeps Pace with Times” The Tribune, 9 Feb. 1933, p. 9

“Aida” 1933 Playbill and Program, by the Manila Music Chamber Music Society,

Familysearch.org

13. World and Olympic Weightlifting Record Setter: RODRIGO DEL ROSARIO

RODRIGO DEL ROSARIO  (b. 11 Jun. 1917) was a 3-time Olympian from Cabangan, Zambales. Standing only 5’4”, he never won an Olympic medal but he broke Olympic and world records in his long career.

Physical culture and weightlifting were already established sports by the mid 1930s, and interest peaked when menfolk were required to do military training as a looming war approached. Del Rosario discovered weightlifting in Manila, and he came under the training of the Ben Gallegos Club which had a gym in Sta. Mesa, Manila. The Club also held regular weightlifting tournaments and fielded qualified members to the National Weightlifting Championships. It was in these championships that Del Rosario began making his mark.

At the nationals held in Cebu on 21 Mar. 1948, Del Rosario, competing in the featherweight division, managed a total of 712. 2 lbs. in 3 lifts. He also made a lift of 236.2 lbs. in the military press. These broke the world records established by American lifter Bob Higgins at the Philadelphia Championship in Sep. 1947, where he lifted 231.5 lbs. in military press, and a 3-lift total of 638.5 lbs.

His peak was at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, he came closest to winning a weightlifting medal when 110 lbs. Del Rosario placed fourth in his featherweight division. He pressed 105 lbs . in the (231 ¼ ) lbs. which was declared an Olympic Mark, surpassing the previous record of Jafar Salmasi of Iran . This also equaled that year’s world mark. His combined lifts, adding his 92.5 kilos in the snatch (203 ¾ lbs.), and 120 kilos in the jerk (264 ½ lbs), totaled 317.5 kilos  (699 ½ lbs), trailing the Bronze medalist R. Wilkes of Trinidad, by just 5 pounds.

Del Rosario may have lost the Bronze by a whisker, but the record he set for the press lift remains the first and only Olympic record set by a Filipino, which caught the attention of international lifters. He reset this world record in the press lift to 108.75 kg. (or  239.75 lbs.) at the 1954 Asiad in Manila. The record, though, lasted just for 6 days, surpassed thrice by international lifters.

Like all carry-over athletes from the thirties, he continued to join competitions past his peak, finishing second in his class in the 1955 National Champioships. Del Rosario has always found the 2-hand snatch an enigma and he was unable to lift over 200 pounds, that thwarted his 1955 title hopes.

Pushing 40, Del Rosario made it to his 3^rd Olympics in Melbourne in 1956, along with fellow lifter Pedro Landero. He failed to lift his clean and jerk portion, so he was not ranked for his incomplete lifts.

Del Rosario became a trainer of young weightlifters and coached the 1968 Philippine Weightlifting Team to the Mexico Olympics.  His last competition was in the World Weightlifting Championships  in Columbus, Ohio in 1970. By dint of good luck, he was awarded 1^st place in the flyweight division after the Top 3 lifters were disqualified for drug use.

After his competitive years were over, Del Rosario took on a job as a security officer at the Rizal Memorial Stadium, where retired athletes would congregate at the P.A.A.F. office. He continued mentoring young weightlifters including his nephew Salvador del Rosario who would win a world title, paving the way for a stint at the Olympics in 1968 and 1976. His son Arturo, followed suit, becoming an Olympian in 1972 and 1976.

Rodrigo del Rosario, our finest Olympic strongman, died on 10 October 2009, at the venerable age of 92.

SOURCES:

Olympedia, https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/56487

Progress 1955, Report on Postwar Sports

Abesamis, M. E. 13 Oct. 1968, The Sunday Times Magazine, “All the Weights for Gold” 13 Oct. 1968. p. 30

1952 Official Olympic Report, LA 1984 Digital Collection

Alex R. Castro, FilipiKnow. 13 Sports Legends Who Proved Filipinos Are Kickass Athletes, https://filipiknow.net/legendary-filipino-athletes-in-sports-history/