Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia clarified that while the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and the PSC have not established a qualifying ceiling, they are still following a “performance-based” scheme in identifying the delegates.

“How could it be said that there is no criteria when there is the so-called ‘performance-related’(scheme)? Hindi naman basta na lamang kukuhanin ang athletes dahil tatanungin muna kung ‘ano ba record mo, ano ba tinakbo mo’ (We won’t accept an athlete without going through their records and validating their performances),” Garcia explained.

Sports officials have veered away from the usual practice of having a set of standard for screening the SEAG crew, such as the requisite medals and placings in previous Asian Games, SEAG and other international competitions and qualifying marks for measurable sports.

According to PSC Commissioner and co-chef de mission Chito Loyzaga,this is meant to give all mainstays in the Phl pool – some 600 of them – a chance to be part of the SEAG team.

However, he said athletes vying for slots and nominated by their respective national sports associations (NSAs) will eventually be screened and pruned down based on their records and their performances will be regularly evaluated.

“So at the end of the day, may criteria pa din (there’s still criteria being enforced),”Garcia stressed.

The absence of definite criteria has become an area of concern as it could lead to a Phl contingent that is bigger than usual, a scenario that could further bloat the PSC’s expenses.

The government sports body has initially allocated P30 million for the actual campaign but estimated that it could be short of P60 million more if the delegation will balloon to 700 to 800 people.

Olmin Leyba, Philippine Star