The Philippine Sports Commission is working hard to make sure that all sports equipment needed for the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian Games would be delivered on time.
PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez yesterday said the task force composed of representatives from the Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee and the PSC are deep in consultation with various national sports associations to fast track the procurement process.
In fact, the committee sat down with NSA officials from billiards, ice skating, dancesport, shooting and windsurfing last Wednesday to discuss the procurement of their sport equipment, including the suppliers, specification and compliance with their respective international federations.
So far, only 11 out of the 57 participating NSAs have their respective equipment delivered.
The rest are still in the process of consultation with barely two months before the opening of the Games. Still, Ramirez assured that everything would be delivered on time.
“We’re looking at having everything delivered in our warehouse by November 15,” said Ramirez, who is also the chief of mission of Team Philippines.
“The cooperation among the PSC, POC and PHISGOC is very solid and they are doing a good job screening all the equipment requirements and other requests of the NSAs. The SEA Games task force had gone full blast. We expect everything to be done by next week.”
Among the equipment that need to be purchased, that of shooting, rowing, athletics, weightlifting, wrestling and gymnastics are the most expensive.
Composed mainly of guns and ammunition and construction of competition and practice ranges in Subic and at the Philippine Marines headquarters in Taguig, shooting’s equipment cost P73.9 million while rowing’s equipment are pegged at P58.5 million, athletics at P43.1 million, weightlifting at P35 million, wrestling at P33.3 million, and gymnastics at P33.1 million.
Among the most affordable, surfing tops the list at P549,000, squash at P535,000, netball at P1 million, taekwondo at P2.2 million, chess at P2.3 million, jiu-jitsu at P2.3 million and triathlon at P3.9 million.
The government allotted a total of P6.5 billion, half of which is going to the procurement of equipment of all 57 participating NSAs for the biennial meet that is set to kick off on 30 November at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan.
Ramirez, however, asserted that despite the all the rush, they would still make sure that the procurement process would still comply with the government accounting rules of the Commission on Audit and Department of Budget and Management.
“The PSC, COA and DBM are still on top of all these procurements,” said Ramirez, who steered the country to the overall crown when he served as chief of mission in the country’s previous hosting of the Games in 2005.
“The President gave me a marching order of making sure that the staging of the SEA games will be successful. I’m taking that order seriously so I’m making sure that everything is being done aboveboard and in compliance to government accounting rules and regulations.”