Philippine Bowling Congress

The Philippine Bowling Congress Inc. or more popularly known as PBC was the governing body for the sport of tenpin bowling in the Philippines until it was replaced by the Philippine Bowling Federation Inc. "PBF" as the new appointed member of the international bowling federation World Bowling, Asian Bowling Federation [1] and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The original Philippine Bowling Congress Inc. 1975 registration has been officially revoked by the Securities Exchanged Commission (SEC) in 2003 when it allowed its 25-year corporate term to expire without complying with the requirements provided by law for the extension of its corporate term of existence. In some countries, a company can exist for as long as it can engage in business, but in the Philippines, the term is as stated in company's articles of incorporation.

A new organization bearing a confusingly similar name, Philippine Bowling Congress (PBCI) Inc. was incorporated and registered with SEC in January 2009 and assumed the role of PBC without valid authorization. Also, PBCI has since organized and sanctions only handicap tournaments. The handicap system of play has displaced high average bowlers such as the national team members who can only score a maximum 300 perfect game by rolling 12 consecutive strikes against a handicap bowler who may score a perfect game score and in some case over a perfect game score without actually bowling a perfect game (A perfect game is achieved by bowling 12 strikes in a row in a single game: one strike in each of the first nine frames, and three more in the tenth frame. Because a strike counts as ten pins plus any pinfall in the next two balls, 30 points are possible in a given frame).

Since its concentration on handicap tournaments, PBCI has failed to present any long term training program for its youth or national team development, these were instead left to member associations. With no exposure to World Tenpin Bowling Association "WTBA" standard format in any national tournament, success in international tournaments started to diminish.[2] Lane condition has also not been to international standards as PBCI was unable to check these on their sanctioned tournaments.

Talks of reviving the Philippine Bowling Federation, a predecessor of PBC which was founded by Ernesto "Toti" Lopa in 1968, happened before his election in 2011.[3]

Due to in-fighting within the PBCI in 2011 with some members not amenable to reforms introduced by the new administration, a break away group of members formed the National Bowling Tour "NBT", which is again a handicap tournament with member bowling associations (mostly comprising about 20-50 members per association) from all over the Philippines - Metro City, Cavite, Batangas, Ilolilo, Cebu, Bacolod, Pangasinan and Davao.

In early 2016, after the resignation of the President and Vice President of PBCI, the Philippine Olympic Committee established a caretaker body that will temporarily handle the affairs of Philippine bowling and POC appointed secretary general Steve Hontiveros who was the last President of the defunct Philippine Bowling Congress Inc.[4] Mr. Hontiveros was also a past president of the international governing body of bowling Fédération Internationale des Quilleurs now World Bowling from 2003-2007.

In March 2016, the POC appointed Paeng Nepomuceno as the head coach of the Philippine national bowling team.

PBF was incorporated to save the national bowling team and bowling's grassroots program. PBF is made up of pillars of Philippine bowling, Senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III himself a world cupper and champion bowler, three world champions - 2 International Hall of Famer Paeng Nepomuceno and Bong Coo with Biboy Rivera, Asian champion Rene Reyes, original Philippine Bowling Congress Inc. incorporator Cas King, Phil. Senior Bowling president Steve Robles, and premier bowling benefactor Alex Lim. in PBF, athletes, coaches, proprietors, seniors and the youth are well represented. PBF also invited former World Bowling president and past PBC president Stephen Hontiveros,

With Paeng, the only Asian Gold level coach of USBC as head coach, supported by World Champion Biboy Rivera, SEAG Masters Champion Jojo Canare, longtime coach Johnson Cheng and Rey Reyes, PBF boast of a team of 100% Filipino coaches who now conducts regular seminars and quality training.[5]

Since PBF's inception, the 2016 RP Bowling Pool was formed composed of 20 bowlers, mixed with veterans and youth bowlers. Namely:

(Men's) Enzo Hernandez, Kenneth Chua, Raoul Miranda, Arnie Ladjai, Jason Tubid, Kevin Cu, Nicco Olaivar, Jay-Ar Tan, Ivan Malig, Merwin Tan, JP Macatula, and Marky Del Carmen.

(Women's) Liza Del Rosario, Liza Clutario, Krizziah Tabora, Lara Posadas, Alexis Sy, Mades Arles, Dyan Coronacion, Bea Hernandez, and Rica Macatula.

For the first time in a long time, the current national pool will compete in Asian Bowling Federation member tournaments such as the Hong Kong Open and the Indonesian Open as preparation for the Asian Championships in Hong Kong.

In May, 2016, PBF coaches Paeng, Biboy Rivera and Jojo Canare were invited to the second World Bowling Coach Conference held at the International Training & Research Center in Arlington, Texas where bowling coaches from around the world participated to synchronize and advance the sport worldwide.

PBF hosted The Philippine International Open on May 13 to 28 2017 at the Coronado Lanes in Starmall Edsa Mandaluyong City. The event is an Asian Bowling Federation ranking. it was participated in by bowlers from host Philippines, Australia, Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Guam U.S.A. and Filipino bowlers residing or working overseas.

In 2017, PBF has produced the first ever silver medals in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG) in Ashgabat courtesy of Kenneth Chua in Men Singles and in Women Team of Five and after 39 years the Philippines regained the QubicaAmf Bowling World Cup Women's title with Krizziah Tabora in Hermosillo, Mexico.

PBF also hosted 19th Asian Youth Tenpin Bowling Championships in October 2017 at Corodano Lanes, Starmall EDSA in Mandaluyong City. The tournament returned to the Philippines after 19 years.

PBF will host the 2018 Philippine International Open on April 28 - May 13.

The incorporators of PBF are Hon. Sen Vicente Sotto III, Stephen Hontiveros, Steve Robles, Alex Lim, Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong Coo, Biboy Rivera, Rene Reyas, Casiano King, Salome Lopa and Gina Avecilla.