Joaquín "Chito" Cuerva Loyzaga (born August 29, 1958) is a Filipino former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player and

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

. He played for the

San Beda College San Beda University () is a private Catholic coeducational basic and higher education institution run by the Order of Saint Benedict in San Miguel, Manila, Philippines. It was founded by the Benedictines in 1901. The main campus is situated ...

in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

before going on to play in the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines, composed of twelve company-branded Franchising, franchise teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia ...

PBA career

Early career

In the PBA, Loyzaga played one game for YCO-Tanduay, then migrated to Australia for two years. He came back to play for

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

in 1983. After Toyota disbanded, Loyzaga moved to Great Taste, where he became part of the team's dynasty of four straight championships.

Ginebra

In 1986, he was shipped to

Ginebra San Miguel Ginebra San Miguel, Inc. (; GSMI), formerly La Tondeña Distillers, Inc., is a Philippines-based diversified beverage company majority-owned by San Miguel Food and Beverage, Inc. History La Tondeña was established in 1902 by Carlos T. Pal ...

, where he spent all of his last eight seasons in the PBA, winning three championships. A seven-time recipient of the Philippine Basketball Association All-Defensive Team award from 1985 to 1992, Loyzaga made a name for himself as a straight-up defensive stopper, using his heft and quick hands to guard the league's best big men, including the great

Ramon Fernandez Ramon Sadaya Fernandez (; born October 3, 1953) is a Filipino former professional basketball player and current commissioner of the Philippine Sports Commission. Fernandez won four PBA Most Valuable Player awards and a record of 19 PBA ti ...

, and later,

Alvin Patrimonio Alvin Dale Vergara Patrimonio (born November 17, 1966) is a Filipino retired professional basketball player from the Philippine Basketball Association and is the current team manager for the Magnolia Hotshots. Patrimonio holds several PBA r ...

. He retired from basketball after the

1993 PBA season The 1993 PBA season was the 19th season of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Board of governors Executive committee * Rey Marquez, Reynaldo G. Marquez (Commissioner) * Moro Lorenzo, Luis Lorenzo, Sr. (Chairman, representing Pepsi M ...

National team career

Loyzaga also played for the

Philippines men's national basketball team The Philippines men's national basketball team (), commonly known as Gilas Pilipinas, is the basketball team representing the Philippines. The team is managed by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (Basketball Federation of the Philippines or s ...

in the

1990 Asian Games ) , nations = 31 , athletes = 6,122 , events = 308 in 27 sports , opening = 22 September 1990 , closing = 7 October 1990 , opened_by = Yang Shangkun , closed_by = Roy de Silva , athlete_oath = Chen L ...

where he distinguished himself by helping limit North Korean center Ri Myung Hun despite a height discrepancy of over a foot and a half between them.

Post-retirement

In 2002, Loyzaga became the fourth commissioner of the

Metropolitan Basketball Association The Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA), also shortened as Metroball, was a professional basketball league in the Philippines that ran for five seasons from 1998 until 2002. The MBA was established to rival the Philippine Basketball Asso ...

. He served as general manager of

San Miguel Beermen The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with Barangay Ginebra San Miguel and Magnolia ...

, from 2004 until 2006. He was also a commissioner and executive director of the

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC; ) is an agency of the Philippine government that tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee, a privately-ran organization that e ...

from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, he served as a basketball commissioner in the 76th Season of the

UAAP The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univer ...

. On April 9, 2015, he was appointed the Athletics Director of the

National University A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...

for their

Bulldogs The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

sports program, replacing

Junel Baculi Edmundo "Junel" Baculi is a Filipino head basketball coach who formerly coached GlobalPort Batang Pier in the Philippine Basketball Association, PBA. In the PBL, he also coached the Licealiz Shampoo Hair Doctors, Hapee-PCU Dolphins and had many ...

Personal life

Loyzaga is the son of Philippine basketball great

Carlos Loyzaga Carlos "Caloy" Loyzaga y Matute (August 29, 1930 – January 27, 2016) was a Filipino basketball player, coach and politician. He was the most dominant basketball player of his era in the Philippines and is considered as the greatest Filipino ba ...

and Vicky Cuerva. He and brother Joey Loyzaga became one of the few siblings to play in the PBA, eventually playing with Ginebra San Miguel. He is married to Ma. Antonia "Toni" Yulo, with whom he has three children, namely: Celina, Jose Joaquin, and Cecilia. Yulo was executive director of the

Manila Observatory The Manila Observatory is a non-profit research institute housed on the campus of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded by the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, in 1865 as the Observatorio M ...

from 2007 to 2016, and former president of National Resilience Council. In July 2022, she was appointed

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR; ) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the cou ...

by President

Bongbong Marcos Ferdinand "Bongbong" Romualdez Marcos Jr. (, , ; born September 13, 1957), commonly referred to by the initials BBM or PBBM, is a Filipino politician who has served as the 17th president of the Philippines since 2022. He is the second child ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loyzaga, Chito Living people 1958 births Barangay Ginebra San Miguel players Filipino people of Basque descent Filipino people of Spanish descent Metropolitan Basketball Association executives Philippines men's national basketball team players Filipino men's basketball players San Beda Red Lions basketball players Power forwards Small forwards Asian Games medalists in basketball Basketball players at the 1990 Asian Games Basketball players from Manila Toyota Super Corollas players Tanduay Rhum Masters players Great Taste Coffee Makers players Asian Games silver medalists for the Philippines Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games 20th-century Filipino sportsmen