PSC: NSAs not exempt from rental payments

From now on, National Sports Associations (NSAs) using government-maintained venues for events other than the training of national athletes will have to pay the proper rental dues to the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Ed Mateo, PSC executive director, clarified this new directive yesterday after the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) raised a howl of protest regarding the temporary cancellation of the ongoing Ambrosio Padilla basketball tournament at the Rizal Coliseum.

Mateo ordered the tournament, which kicked off last April 19, stopped last Thursday after the BAP refused to pay P62,100 in rental fees. Mateo said the amount represents maintenance charges and electricity consumption.

The tournament named after the late Olympian was transferred to the Philippine Maritime Institute Gym in Sta. Cruz, Manila. It will run for two months.

Graham Lim, BAP secretary-general, said the fact that they had sanctioned the tournament with "no sponsors" should give them free access to the Rizal Coliseum, the tournament venue for the last three years.

Mateo, however, disagrees.

"How can they say that they have no sponsors when they have a request to put up streamers in the venue. They even charged the 19 teams P15,000 each in sanction fees. One of the competing schools, San Beda, confirmed this," said Mateo.

The BAP, according to Mateo, said the sanction fees will be used to pay the officials running the tournament and referees calling the games.

"Gaano ba kadami ang officials ng tournament na ‘yan? Huwag nila sabihing hindi sila kumikita diyan," Mateo added.

The PSC official said NSAs are given free access to government-maintained venues at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex, Philsports Arena (Ultra) or even those up in Baguio only if they are used for the training of the national athletes.

"The PSC wouldn’t mind if they use it even until the wee hours of the morning as long as the national athletes are the ones using the venue. But this BAP tournament, what has the PSC or the government got to do with it?" he asked.

Mateo said the ongoing BAP tournament is no different to the NCAA which pays the proper rental fees for using the Rizal Memorial. He said the other NSAs will also have to follow the directive, like tennis which often holds sponsored tournaments at the RMSC courts.

"Ang gusto yata ng BAP eh libre na sila palagi. Imagine, they will use the venue six hours a day, seven days a week for two months. Eh paano naman ang gastusin ng PSC diyan? They could have talked to us and in fact, we could have given them a discounted rate. Pero huwag naman libre," Mateo explained.