Will Congress approve and grant the increased 2023 budget request by the Philippine Sports Commission?
Last Monday, newly-seated PSC chairman Jose Emmanuel “Noli” Eala presented a P5.216B to the Finance Committee during a congressional hearing.
My personal take is that Eala’s budget request is just and reasonable.
Sports development has been taken lightly by previous congresses until it came to light that the youth’s sports mindedness takes them away from getting into delinquent juvenile activities like drug addiction and boring idleness.
Considered huge if one compares it to the P1.309B the sports agency utilized in 2021, this corner believes the amount is fair and adequate if the increased budgetary request is measured against the myriad commitments and mandated tasks the PSC needed to accomplish.
One has to take into account the fact that the Philippines needs to sustain the gains it has achieved in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, world and Asian championships in gymnastics, weightlifting, boxing, golf, athletics (pole vault) where the country cannot afford to sit back and relax.
If my memory serves me right, RA 6847, the law that created the PSC, mandates the PCSO, PAGCOR and the Philippine Racing Commission to grant from their earnings and revenues a 5% allocation that will go to the National Sports Development Fund.
As the years have come and gone, we have noticed that the above contribution from the three revenue-generating bodies is a shoe string allocation that is not enough to fulfill the ever-growing task of national sports development.
Of course, the primordial assignment of PSC is grassroots development which is the spawning ground of potential elite athletes who will follow the footsteps of Hidilyn Diaz, Carlos Yulo, Ej Obiena and the achievers before them (Lydia de Vega, Paeng Nepomuceno, Bong Coo, Anthony Villanueva, Mansueto Velasco et al).
Private sponsorships to finance the training and preparation of potential Olympic medalists and participation in world championships can be sourced but grassroots sports remains the government’s burden, if I may say.
Perhaps, the new generation of young legislators in Congress will look kindly on the current state of Philippine sports and seriously consider youth and sports development as vital as the economy of the nation.
Eala must also remember that to produce A-1 athletes, qualified and experienced coaches must be enlisted as a parallel development strategy.
EJ Obiena could not have been successful in pole vault if he had trained locally. PATAFA, through PSC funding, scouted for a foreign coach who taught and developed him into what he is today.
If the requested budget is granted and utilized judiciously, the PSC, in harmony and productive cooperation with the Philippine Olympic Committee and the National Sports Association, can produce a continuing roster of potential Olympic winners and world champions, year in, year out. (Email feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
