IN the coming years, the Philippine Sports Commission will seek to have an annual budget of more than P1.2-billion.
This will cover its efforts to fund the elite programs of the national sports associations and the assistance that it gives to grassroots sports.
That is why it is finalizing a master plan that it will soon submit to Congress for approval.
PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said this after the board approved the release of P600-million as this year’s budget allocation for around 46 national sports associations.
With the release of P1.2 billion in funding from PAGCOR this year, the government was able to also set aside P300-million for grassroots development.
“We are submitting this requirement, an initial master plan of the PSC after 20 years,” said Ramirez, who spoke on the occasion of President Duterte’s 73rd birthday last Wednesday.
Having such a plan, according to Ramirez, will allow them to appeal to Congress for additional funding next year. It will also enable PAGCOR to remit its five percent annual allocation.
The annual budget for the NSAs does not include the P300-million that it gave as indirect assistance and other expenses.
So far, the agency prioritized its assistance to the NSAs and grouped them according to tiers.
Around P220-million is set to Tier 1 NSAs, which are associations that are Olympic sports.
These include weightlifting, judo, taekwondo, boxing, archery, gymnastics, windsurfing, athletics and swimming.
There’s P220-millon for Tier 2 sports, which is classified as Olympic and non-Olympics.
Making up this group is jujitsu, chess, equestrian, triathlon, wushu, canoe/kayak, pencak silat, bowling, billiards and golf,
Tier 3 involves other sports and have an allocation of P240-million. And this includes dancesport, cycling, rugby, fencing, rowing, karatedo and badminton.
Also listed under Tier 3 are shooting, softball, basketball, sailing, football, muay thai, sepak takraw, ice hockey, baseball, tennis, wrestling, lawn ball, squash, volleyball, tennis, handball, table tennis and fin swimming.