Sadly, there is none despite repeated calls from various sectors, like the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), to update the Master Plan for Philippine Sports that was prepared during our time at the Philippine Sports Commission PSC). We are not even saying that the Master Plan is the Plan. What we are simply saying is that Plan, the only one of its kind in the history of Philippine sports, is a good starting point, as attested by NEDA which is mandated to coordinate all development plans of government agencies for approval by the Cabinet and the President. The NEDA had unsuccessfully, since 1998, tried to get the PSC, which under the law is mandated to produce a sports development program, to discuss and finalize a sports development program using the Master Plan as the take off point.

At any rate, we reiterate our oft-made call that our sports leaders formulate a multi-stakeholder plan. Why do we need a formal plan? Simple: it’s the right thing that needs to be done by managers if we want to be taken seriously by sports stakeholders everywhere.

In previous columns, I had stated that it is clear that individuals and the community benefit from government support for organized sporting programs. These benefits can be categorized under four broad headings: 1. health; 2. social cohesion, harmony and empowerment; 3. actualization of social justice; and 4.international goodwill and prestige.

This organized sporting program, like any other sensible program, must have goals and objectives. Any program, past, present or future, has to be judged in terms of what its goals and objectives were.

A program therefore has to spell out its goals that are accepted by stakeholders in a democratic and transparent setting. The Philippines captured its first Olympic silver medal during the 1964 Tokyo Olympics through featherweight boxer Anthony Villanueva. It was only in 1996 (during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos), at the Atlanta Olympics, that the Philippines managed to win its second silver medal again in boxing via Mansueto Velasco. Therefore, from 1965 to 1995, a 30-year period that was dominated by the 21 years of Ferdinand Marcos (1965 to February 1986) and his officials, the Philippines found its mark in Southeast Asian and Asian Games competitions but was not too successful in the Olympics.

If all the past projects during that 30-year period had for one of its (written) objectives, success in the Olympics, by at least equaling the performance of Villanueva (and much later, Velasco), then such programs can be considered to have fallen short since the country did not win any silver medal in any Olympic competition during that period. Falling short is still forgivable; what is unpardonable however is the failure to formulate any objective or goal at all.

What then is the aim of sports development? To restate it: the ultimate aim of sports development is to facilitate the participation of all Filipinos in sports and wellness activities while providing opportunities for especially gifted and talented athletes to achieve their maximum potential and excel especially in the international sporting arena. In short, we must achieve a balance between mass participation and excellence in elite sports. They must complement each other if we are to have stability and continuity in our sports program.

Achieving the balance is both a political and scientific question just as determining which 10 sports, for example, should the Philippines dedicate most of its already limited sports resources. That balance has to be agreed by stakeholders in the updated Master Plan, if it is to be updated. The Plan should reflect the distribution of resources over a specified planning period. Elite sports are to be backed up by a mass-based sports program that draws strength from the Philippines’ biggest resource: its population.

As usual, in the light of our performance in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the challenge that sports officials face is to avoid the inevitable calls from various sectors, among them, media) for a “quick fix”. As we have repeatedly said, developing a universal mass-based sports program for a country of 100 million cannot be achieved overnight in the face of other pressing social and economic priorities.

We have a new Administration that knows where it wants to go. Let us seize the moment and, once and for all, prepare a Blueprint/Master Plan for Philippine Sports. We cannot muddle through forever.

Philip Ella Juico, Philippine Star