SEAG feat mustn’t cover up ills besetting RP sports

After commending the Filipino athletes for a job well done, Celso Dayrit is now hoping that the country’s success in the recent Vietnam SEA Games should not be used as a smokescreen for all the problems hounding Philippine sports.

The Philip-pine Olympic Com-mittee (POC) pres-ident, barely 12 hours after returning from Vietnam, yesterday said if not for the athletes’ gallant effort, the Philippines couldn’t have jumped to fourth place overall with its 48 gold, 54 silver and 75 bronze medals.

It was a marked improvement from the country’s fifth place finish of 31 gold, 65 silver and 67 bronze medals two years ago in Kuala Lumpur.

"What happened in Vietnam was that our athletes gave it their best despite all the problems. They deserved all the credit," Dayrit, still sounding tired and drowsy, said over telephone.

"Therefore, I hope that this triumph should not cover up for the deep problems we have in Philippine sports," added Dayrit, who is also president of the RP fencing association that won the overall title with its four gold and four silver medals in Hanoi.

Dayrit said problems like lack of international exposures and training equipment or the delay in the release of allowances for the national coaches and athletes should be avoided if the Philippines hopes to do better when it hosts the biennial games two years from now.

The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) under Eric Buhain is in charge of all these. But the government sports agency shouldn’t take all the blame considering the meager funding that it gets from Congress.

The PSC, therefore, is being asked to do more with less. The P100 million budget for the actual participation of the 445 athletes in Vietnam, for example, was released by Malacañang only on the eve of the competition and that Buhain barely made it to the opening ceremonies in Vietnam.

Dayrit, however, said despite the lack of budget, the PSC can do better if only it knows its priorities well and that expenditures are cut to a minimum.

"With all the problems, it was really difficult to finish third overall in Vietnam as some had hoped for.

First, there was a problem with the equipment. Then the overseas exposures were not enough. Puro abono na ang NSAs. It’s a good thing the First Gentleman was able to raise more funds.

"We hope that this won’t happen again," Dayrit said.