THE Philippine Sports Commission will continue to exercise its supervisorial and visitorial powers as it does its duty of providing financial assistance to national athletes and coaches going to the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.
And if the PSC’s actions are viewed as government intervention, then the national sports associations should stop asking for asking for assistance.
This is how PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez sees it after the PSC earmarked a total of P350 million for the country’s involvement in the Games.
Ramirez explained that P247 million of the total will be spent for the athletes’ preparations, while more than P80 million is for actual participation,
“There will always be intervention when money of the government is used. If they don’t want intervention, they should stop asking for money and we’ll focus on grassroots sports,” said Ramirez.
According to the list of athletes that was finalized last Wednesday, 497 are seeing action for the Philippines in the Games starting Aug. 14.
Team Philippines will also be represented by 163 coaches and a support group of 70 comprising medical, secretariat and 13 technical officials.
The Philippines will be competing in 37 out of 38 sports disciplines.
Ramirez said the agency is also getting to help the Team Philippines that will be assembled for the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia and the 2019 Philippines’ SEA Games.
It will not stop there, as assistance to the national delegation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is also being worked out.
He added that the Philippine Olympic Committee “should be responsible for the elite athletes competing in international games while the PSC will continue to bring sports to the countryside.”