MANILA, Philippines – A fixed budget, one that would compare to those of the neighboring countries, is what the Philippine Sports Commission needs.
Chairman Richie Garcia said the PSC cannot depend on a budget that may vary and fluctuate on a monthly basis, and a measly one that is provided by Congress on an annual basis.
The PSC is the government’s funding arm in sports. It gets monthly contributions from other government agencies and corporations, the bulk of them coming from cash-rich Pagcor.
But the amount depends on the monthly sales of the corporation that runs all government-owned casinos in the country, and from an average of P45 million last year it dropped to P39 million last month.
Garcia said certain events, like the bloody hostage-taking incident last August and the bombing of a bus in Makati last month, lead to a decline in Pagcor sales, and lead to the drop in remittances to the PSC.
The PSC also gets an annual budget from Congress, under the General Appropriations Act. But this year’s budget of P168 million, when the PSC sought twice as much in its proposal, is certainly not enough to keep things going.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco, the President’s uncle, is working closely with some members of Congress, himself being a former congressman, and is batting for a bigger budget for Philippine sports.
“The PSC gets as much as P700 million a year from Pagcor and other government agencies, and P168 million from Congress while Singapore sports gets the equivalent of P7 billion a year from their government,” said Cojuangco.
“Malaysia, we learned, gets P3.5 billion a year, Thailand around P4 billion and Brunei P1.5 billion. For last year’s Youth Olympic Games alone, Singapore spent $7 million for the training of its athletes,” he added.
Cojuangco recently sat down with members of the House committee on youth and sports, and they ended up talking about the budget. Congressman Luis Villafuerte Sr. (3rd district, Camarines Sur) was on the same page.
“He told us to tell them what we really need then maybe the government can decide on it. The question is do we really want to be competitive? Because we always end up struggling,” Cojuangco said.
In the Philippines, he added, the programs would depend on what’s on the table, and with a measly budget, there’s really not enough to feed the 53 national sports associations, the 630 athletes in the national pool, their coaches and trainers.
“One athlete should need around P50,000 a month for their nutrition, coaching, exposure. But we don’t have it. We have sports, like equestrian, archery and some others, that have no training facility up to now,” he added.
Cojuangco recalled that in 2005, with a budget of P104 million from Congress, the Philippines emerged as the overall champion in the Southeast Asian Games. But instead of keeping it up, Congress slashed the budget to P28 million for 2006.
Garcia said it was a senator who thought of giving the PSC a fixed budget, and maybe it’s time to do that.
“If only Pagcor can give us a fixed budget of P1 billion a year, and maybe another P500 million from the GAA and from the PCSO. But will that be enough? It’s really difficult to answer. But definitely it will be a big boost,” said Cojuangco.
Garcia echoed Cojuangco’s statement.
“We can do a lot if we have that money. But will it be enough? For the elite athletes, yes, we can give the athletes what they need. But for the grassroots programs, no. It will not be enough,” he said.
The problem, the PSC chief added, is that when the budget declines, all the sports programs remain, and he warned that if the trend, the decline in the Pagcor remittance continues, they will be short by P70 million by the end of the year.
“Again, will two billion be enough? It depends on what we want to do,” he said.
Abac Cordero, Philippine Star
