Low budget forces cut in nat’l pool

As part of its belt-tightening measures, the cash-strapped Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) plans to cut down on the number of athletes receiving millions of pesos in monthly allowances from the government sports agency.

As it is, there are close to 800 athletes making up the national, training and developmental pools with Class A athletes, particularly the bemedalled ones, receiving more or less P10,000 a month, Class B P5,000 and Class C P3,000.

Their allowances come from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) which the PSC derives from well-to-do government agencies like the Philippine Games and Amusements Corp. (Pagcor) and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The NSDF also takes care of the athletes’ equipment, training expenses and local and international exposures. The basic needs of the different national sports associations (NSAs) plus the salaries of local and foreign coaches also come from the NSDF.

The PSC, however, is now having a hard time making both ends meet with a low annual budget of P105 million from Congress and a huge P10 million slash from its monthly take from Pagcor.

The PSC receives more than P30 million a month from Pagcor, but not at least for the first six months of this year since the government agency will have to deduct the P60 million it gave to the PSC for the actual participation of the RP athletes in the recent Vietnam SEA Games.

Cutting down on the number of athletes, therefore, is one long-range plan that could help the PSC to augment its meager resources.

According to the plan, the PSC will cut the number of athletes to probably almost half without totally turning its back on the rest.

"Only the best will have to remain. Maybe around 500 of them. And these will be the elite athletes," said a PSC official.

The PSC official who helped draw the plan, now being dubbed "Golden 500," explained that the athletes who will not make the elite list can still remain in the pool and, in one way or another, get PSC support.

"But it will be for the different NSAs to decide. If they want these athletes to remain with them, they will have to find ways to shoulder their allowances. But in some ways, the PSC will help them," he said.

The PSC, the official added, can do a better job by the cutting down on the number of athletes as shown in the "Gintong Medalya: May Laban Tayo" program initiated by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo for the 2003 SEA Games.

With big help coming from Malacañang and the private sector, the PSC funded a select group of only 85 athletes for the Vietnam Games, and got tremendous results with almost half of them winning gold medals.

Those 48 gold medals, along with 54 silver and 75 bronze medals, helped the Philippines jump from fifth to fourth overall in the SEA Games.

"It only shows that the formula works," said PSC chairman Eric Buhain days after the SEA Games success.