Be it his victories over Ricky Hatton and Miguel Cotto inside the boxing ring, his upcoming bout in the political arena, his alleged liaison with sexy actress Krista Ranillo or his looming legal battle with the Mayweathers, Manny Pacquiao remains the biggest sports story in the country.

Pacquiao made history when he collected his sixth and seventh division titles with equally devastating disposal of the supposedly bigger and stronger Hatton and Cotto.

But Philippine sports also celebrated in other fronts with the 38 gold-medal-winning Team Philippines to the Laos Southeast Asian Games, local powerlifters, female cue artist Rubilen Amit, chess teen sensation Wesley So and the Francis Casey Alcantara and Cecil Mamiit-led RP netters also making significant contributions.

While it improved RP’s finish by a notch, after the country placed sixth in the 2007 edition of the biennial meet in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand (43 golds), it should be noted that the Filipino athletes came down fighting before settling for fifth.

Powerlifting, overshadowed by the much illustrious Olympic event of weightlifting, entered the Filipinos’ consciousness when four powerlifters – Patricia Llena, Rafael Enrique “Richie” Rosales, Erlinda Pecante and Antonio Taguibao – reaped honors in various world championships.

Amit carved her name in the billiard scene when she topped the inaugural World Women’s Ten Ball Championship then added two gold medals – 8-ball and 9-ball singles – in the 25th Laos SEA Games.

So, the 16-year-old prodigy from Cavite, made RP chess history by making it to the 16-player fourth round of the 2009 World Chess Cup in Khanty-Mansiyk, Russia to surpass the achievements of GMs Joey Antonio and Mark Paragua, who reached as far as the second round. Asia’s first GM Eugene Torre qualified as far as the quarterfinal stage but in a different world championship elimination format.

Alcantara started the year right by posting a historic triumph in the boys’ doubles event of the Australian Open Junior Championships in Melbourne, Australia while Mamiit led the Philippine Davis Cuppers to a Group I meeting with Japan before helping the country’s 2-3-5 gold-silver-bronze harvest in the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos.

Running events also abound in 2009 as Filipinos hope to someday make their mark in the international scene just like the vaunted Kenyans.

Ateneo and San Sebastian’s basketball victories in their respective leagues hogged the headlines in the collegiate ranks in the same manner that UST maintained its standing as one of the country’s volleyball powerhouses.

Controversies also rocked Philippine basketball with Wynne Arboleda and Japeth Aguilar’s on- and off-court antics being the subject of much debate.

Not to be outdone, baseball is trying to re-establish its presence with the staging of the Baseball Philippines and the Junior Baseball Philippines series. [via GMANews]