The Philippine Institute of Sports Complex (also known as the PhilSports Complex) is a national sports complex of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It is located in Meralco Avenue in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

. It is where the offices 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 ...

Philippine Olympic Committee The Philippine Olympic Committee Inc. (POC) is the National Olympic Committee of the Philippines. The POC is a private, non-governmental organization composed of and serve as the mother organization of all National Sports Associations (NSAs) in ...

and some national sports associations are located. PhilSports Complex facilities are purposely built to cater the Filipino athletes’ needs from training facilities to living quarters. By virtue of

Republic Act This article contains a partial list of Philippine laws. Sources of Philippine laws ;Notes : *Customs may be considered as supplementary source of law, however, customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not ...

6847, which created the Philippines Sports Commission, was to develop and maintain a fully equipped sports facility. Due to its proximity to business districts of

Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...

and Ortigas, the arena is also used in concerts and conventions.

History

20th century

1970s

The complex was actually the sports field of a

defunct Defunct may refer to: * Defunct (video game), ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also

* * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence {{Disambiguation ...

school named Saint Martin's Integrated School (

Elementary Elementary may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Elementary'' (Cindy Morgan album), 2001 * ''Elementary'' (The End album), 2007 * ''Elementary'', a Melvin "Wah-Wah Watson" Ragin album, 1977 Other uses in arts, entertainment, an ...

and

High School A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

). The school was transferred by First Lady

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

during the 1970s and the school was reorganized as the University of Life, a vocational school.

1980–1999

In 1985, 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 ...

became main tenants of the

PhilSports Arena The Philippine Institute of Sports Multi-Purpose Arena or PhilSports Arena is an indoor arena, indoor sporting arena located inside the PhilSports Complex in Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines. It was formerly known as the University of Life Th ...

after nine years at the

Araneta Coliseum The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose arena, sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Quezon City#Cubao, Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. ...

. The venue attracted

standing-room only An event is described as standing-room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied, leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand, at least those spaces not restricted by occup ...

crowds during their stay. The PBA stayed for seven years until they moved to the newly built

Cuneta Astrodome Cuneta Astrodome, also known as Pasay Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is an indoor arena located in Pasay, Philippines. The arena has hosted Philippine Basketball Association games from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 onwards, and also cur ...

in 1993, citing the venue's lack of maintenance. After the events of the

1986 People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a sustained campaign of ...

, the University of Life was closed. However, the sports complex was transferred to the Philippine Sports Commission in preparation for the 1991 Southeast Asian Games. Several names were applied at the complex. These were ''The ULTRA'' (University of Life Training and Recreational Arena), PSC-National Academy of Sports (''PSC-NAS'') and ''PSC Sports Complex''. Due to confusion to the public especially in concerts, the commission decided to adopt a permanent name, ''PhilSports''.

21st century

2000s

The sports complex reached its maximum audience space when the Asian pop group F4 and Taiwanese local star Barbie Hsu staged a concert in the facility in September 2003. It was one of the venues of the

2005 Southeast Asian Games The 2005 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 23rd Southeast Asian Games, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Manila, Philippines. This was the third time the Philippines hosted the games and its first time since 1991. ...

which was held from November 27, 2005, to December 5, 2005. It hosted the games' badminton event.

=PhilSports stampede

= On February 4, 2006, the PhilSports Complex became the site of a deadly stampede that killed 73 people and injured about 400. ''

Wowowee ''Wowowee'' () was a Television in the Philippines, Philippine television variety show broadcast by ABS-CBN, Hosted by Willie Revillame, the show was aired from February 5, 2005 to February 4, 2006 replacing ''MTB (TV program), MTB'' (then name ...

'', the now-defunct early afternoon game show of television network

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

, was scheduled to hold its first anniversary show at the complex. Attracted by the large prizes given out during the show, crowds of people waited for days just outside the stadium. As the opening of the gates neared a few hours before the show, the crowd surged forward crushing those at the front of the queue underfoot. The cause of the stampede is still being determined pending investigation.

2010s

There was a plan by the

to put up of a beach volleyball court inside the track and field oval of the

PhilSports Football and Athletics Stadium The Philippine Institute of Sports Football and Athletics Stadium, formerly known as the ULTRA Stadium (University of Life Training and Recreational Arena), is a stadium located inside the PhilSports Complex in Oranbo, Pasig, Metro Manila, Phi ...

, a proposal opposed by the

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (PATAFA) is the Sports governing body, National Sports Association (NSA) for Athletics (sport), athletics sports such as track and field, road running, cross country running, and racewalking ...

(PATAFA). PATAFA President, and

Philippine Super Liga The Philippine Super Liga (PSL; alternatively spelled as Philippine Superliga) was a non-professional corporate club women's volleyball league in the Philippines. It was first organized by SportsCore Event Management and Consultancy, Inc. and ...

Chairman Philip Ella Juico said that the construction of the sand court may hamper the athletics national team's preparations. The complex underwent a major renovation, prior to its hosting of some events of the

2019 Southeast Asian Games The 2019 Southeast Asian Games, officially known as the 30th Southeast Asian Games, or the 30th SEA Games, and commonly known as Philippines 2019, were the 30th edition of the SEA Games, Southeast Asian Games, a biennial regional multi-sport ...

2020s

In 2020, the Philippine Sports Commission plans to relaunch its Philippine Sports Library, which will be hosted inside the complex's Building A. The planned library will have at least 3,000 books.

Facilities

Sports venues

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Philsports Complex Sports venues in Metro Manila Buildings and structures in Pasig 1985 establishments in the Philippines Sports venues completed in 1985 Sports complexes in the Philippines Philippine Sports Commission