SOME 150 sports leaders of the country, spearheaded by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), will gather in Tagaytay City today and tomorrow (January 6 -7) to review the sports performance of country during the last 26 years since Republic Act 6847 was passed in 1990.
PSC Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez called it a performance-focused directional meeting designed to analyze “26 years of failure” and what directions will the country now take from hereon.
Speaking to Edge Davao before returning to Manila after a New Year break, Ramirez said that the Tagaytay meeting will tackle the past performance of the Philippine sports team in its participation in the SEA Games, Asian Games, and Olympic Games.
“If we analyze our performance from 1990 up to 2016, the PSC had spent more than P10 billion, but out of this, what can we show for it?” the PSC chief said.
Referring to the dismal record of the national sports associations (NSA) and other groups involved in Philippine sports, Ramirez said that “if we will not reform, we will not behave, then we will focus our budget on the grassroots sports development program through the sports institute.”
“We will have a very delicate, very serious discussion because if we tolerate this situation without taking into consideration seriously about the people’s money that we are spending, I will not be part of it,” said Ramirez.
The PSC chief bared that the Philippine Institute of Sports and Science, the missing link in the country’s effort to achieve excellence in sports, will be launched this month.
The institute will have 12 regional training centers all over the country to spot and train potential champions. With a sports science building in the Ultra, the institute will link up with the Korean Institute of Sports, Australian Institute of Sports and the Russian Institute of Sports.
“We will purchase bio-mechanics equipment, acquire physiology machines and the like to provide science to our elite athletes,” he said, adding that “we are putting up modern high performance training centers with weights and conditioning equipment in the 12 regional training centers.”
Ramirez said the Philippine sports and science institute will have five regional training directors and more or less 50 sports coordinators working with members of the League of Governors and Mayors for the first time.
The instruction of President Duterte to develop community sports can be realized through the institute which will have five sports psychologists, five sports nutritionists, and five medical doctors. Included in this group “to be the source of expertise” of the provinces are the local counterparts and the accredited coaches of the national sports associations.
On funding, Ramirez said the PSC now has P75 million “waiting for us to spend starting January for operation.”
