What is  PPSA?

PPSA stands for the Philippine Practical Shooting Association. The PPSA was organized in 1982 by Mr. Jack Enrile who was first introduced to Practical Shooting as a student in the United States and subsequently brought it with him when he came back to the Philippines.

On November 11, 1982 Jack Enrile and company met in a Chinese restaurant in Mandaluyong City to make plans for the establishment of the Philippine Practical Shooting Association. They held regular meetings after that, and in April 1983, the first formal practical shooting competition in the country organized by the PPSA was held. Dubbed as the First PPSA National Classification Match, the original field of competitors was composed of about 100 shooters including Ilocos Norte Governor Bong Marcos, King Nocom, Johnny Garcia, Leb Vicente, Jojo Naranjilla, Sandy Daza, Kit Bodiola, Mark Cojuangco, Allen Querubin, Philip Manlapaz, and Migo Ledesma. In 1986, the PPSA was formally accepted by IPSC, becoming its 23rd member region.

From that modest start the PPSA has had five IPSC Regional Directors, namely, Jack Enrile from 1982 to 1990; and 2000 up to present, Jess Cuenco from 1990 to 1992, Perry Punla from 1992 to 1994, Chepit Dulay from 1994 to 1996 and Chito Canteras from 1997 to 1999.

The PPSA and its member clubs have put on hundreds of IPSC matches held all over the Philippines, ranging from club shoots consisting of 10 shooters to matches with over 600 competitors. Level I (Club Shoots) and Level II (inter-club) matches are held practically every weekend throughout the country. The PPSA also hosted four major internationally sanctioned events - the Asian IPSC Championship in 1994; the 1996 IPSC AustralAsian Continental Match, the 1999 IPSC World Shoot and the 2001 IPSC AustralAsian Continental Match. All these matches were held in Cebu earning them the title "Shooting Paradise of the World" from a US gun magazine. The PPSA is also hosting an average of ten (10) Level III International match every year since 1998.

As a result of these matches, the PPSA have produced world champions that includes Jethro Dionisio, Athena Lee, Jag Lejano and a lot more.

Also, the PPSA has been sending shooters and range officers to international matches since its affiliation with IPSC. These IPSC events include World Shoot VII in Orlando, Florida in 1986; World Shoot VIII in Caracas, Venezuela in 1988; World Shoot IX in Adelaide, Australia in 1990; World Shoot X in Bisley, England in 1993; and World Shoot XI in Brasilia, Brazil in 1996; AustralAsian Championship in Australia in 1998; European Championship in 1999 in Greece; and 1999 Spanish Nationals in Zaragoza, Spain. Other IPSC sanctioned matches that have seen the participation of Filipino shooters and/or range officers are all the USPSA National Championships since 1985, the Pesta Sukan Cup in Singapore in 1990, the South American Continental Championship in Guyaquil, Ecuador in 1991; the North American Continental Championship in Canada in 1995; and the 1995 Australian National Championship in Queensland, Australia.

NROI Philippines was formally established in 1985 after five PPSA members took a Range Officers Course in the US under the U.S. Practical Shooting Association (USPSA) NROI Program. Since 1989, NROI Philippines has had four Range Officers Seminars that have been conducted by internationally accredited Range Master/Instructors like Dave Stanford, a past president of the USPSA and Peter Glenn currently Vice President of IROA and head of NROI Australia. Locally, NROI Range Master/Instructors have conducted dozens of seminars since 1994 for PPSA members all over the country. Our ratio of 450 range officers to 1500 total number of PPSA members is the highest in the world. Past PPSA Vice Presidents for NROI were practical shooting pioneers Leb Vicente who held the post from 1982 to 1986, and Mon Corral from who handled it from 1987 to 1993.

The Philippines has been voted IPSC country of the year in 1998, 1999 and 2000. It also won the IPSC president's medal in 1998 and 1999. This is awarded to the IPSC region with the most number of Level III championship during a particular year.

The Philippines is currently the defending champion of the IPSC World Shoot and the IPSC AustralAsian Championship having won the following titles:

World Shoot XII
Champion Open Division Team
Champion Modified Division Team
Champion Ladies, Open Division Team
1st Runner-up Juniors, Open Division Team
Champion Ms. Athena Lee, Ladies Open Division

2001 AustralAsian Continental Championship
Champion Open Division Team
Champion Modified Division Team
Champion Production Division Team
Champion Ladies, Open Division Team
Champion Mr. Jag Lejano, Open Division
Champion Mr. Danny Torrevillas, Modified Division
Champion Mr. Nelson Uygongco, Production Division
Champion Ms. Athena Lee, Ladies Open Division
Champion Mr. Jay Agayan, Standard Division
Champion Mr. Philip Chua, Revolver Division

The Philippines will be defending its World Shoot title in September 2002 in South Africa and its AustralAsian crown in 2004 in Indonesia.

From this you can see that the Philippines is truly one of the most active regions of the International Practical Shooting Confederation.

The year 2002 is doubly important as the PPSA celebrates its 20th year and it will be defending its world championship crown.