Fil-Am group to fund P70-M athletes’ quarters

A four-storey athletes’ dorm may soon rise inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

And the good news is that the Philippine Sports Commission won’t spend a single centavo for its construction.

Chairman Butch Ramirez said the Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce, based in Los Angeles and headed by Dr. Yolanda Ortega Stern, is behind the project.

It was first drawn up a few years ago, when Eric Buhain was still chairman of the PSC. But for some reasons, the project, which will cost no less than P70 million, was shelved.

Ramirez is hoping that the construction of the dormitory which will benefit hundreds of national athletes will finally come through. The PSC chief plans to meet FPACC officers in the US in a month or two.

"There’s no clear picture when it will be realized but the last time we talked to them (FPACC), probably after the May 14 elections we can start mapping it out,"said Ramirez, adding that an 800-sq meter area behind the RMSC tennis center may house the dorm.

Ramirez said it will be adequately built with rooms that can accommodate 500 athletes, a large mess hall, cafeteria, conference room, multi-purpose hall and even a swimming pool.

Athletes from different sports like boxing, badminton, sepak takraw, rowing, weightlifting, pencak silat are cramped at the historic sports complex along Vito Cruz, while the rest stay at the Philsports in Pasig and Teachers Camp in Baguio City.