Estrada plays godfather: Supports Goma over PSC's Atleta?

The gap that separated the Philippine Sports Commission and presidential sports and youth adviser Richard Gomez came into focus yesterday when Malacanang announced there are now two fund-raisers for national athletes -- the Atleta of the PSC and the Godfather project of Goma.

Executive Secretary Ronaldo Zamora yesterday informed the PSC that the President had approved the Godfather Program of Gomez without saying whether he has junked the Atleta Program of the PSC.

Whether it was meant to demean the PSC or not, the approval of President Joseph Estrada surprisingly came on the eve of the grand launching of the Atleta (Athletes' Assistance) and at a time when PSC chairman Carlos "Butch" Tuason is in the United States hoping to draw support for the project from overseas Filipinos.

Both have the same concept -- to generate private sector funds for national athletes -- but President Estrada's approval of the Godfather and Atleta programs could only widen the rift between the PSC and the actor-sportsman.

Both had been at odds recently on the manner the PSC should be run. The President's approval actually came on April 24 and was penned by Zamora on May 3. The PSC learned of the approval only yesterday morning.

"I'm surprised, we didn't expect this," said PSC commissioner Richie Garcia, architect of the Atleta program.

Garcia warned that the approval of both fundraisers could create confusion and overlapping of duties.

Both programs were conceived of to ease the financial burden on the national government, which is still recovering from the economic crisis.

The Atleta, however, is limited only to 16 select Olympic sports while the Godfather concept covers all national sports associations under the Philippine Olympic Committee.

The PSC had hired a television company to work out a grand million peso audio-visual presentation for its launching today at Malacanang. The PSC hopes it could make the presentation tentatively May 29, with the President as main endorser.

Presidents and chief executive officers of the top 200 corporations have been invited to the launching, which the PSC also envisioned as a pledging session among the guests.

Unaware of these developments, Tuason is still in the US drumming interest in the Atleta project in the West Coast. Former PSC chairman Philip Ella Juico had embarked on the same mission during his term three years ago, but gained little support from overseas Filipinos.

Tuason has been in the US since May 3 and will be back May 11.

Garcia had been tapped to oversee the Atleta program because of his business contact, while Gomez, who is backed by the POC, hopes to draw support to his Godfather program using his mass appeal.