Escudero backs PSC fund hike for 2012

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday vowed to support efforts to provide the Philippine Sports Commission with additional funding but only if the PSC would craft a viable program aimed at winning an Olympic gold medal in 2012 in London.

Escudero said the PSC deserves all the money the government could give it, but said the agency should be accountable for every centavo, which Escudero said should be efficiently used to avoid another Olympic shutout.

“We want to hear an assurance whatever funding the PSC would receive would be spent on sports which are focused on winning an Olympic medal, a gold if possible,” Escudero said.

PSC officials led by chairman William “Butch” Ramirez will face the Senate this week to defend their financial request from the 2009 General Appropriations Fund. But the agency tasked to oversee the government’s various sports programs had suffered an early rebuff from Congress when its request for P750 million was cut to a mere P216 million, almost equivalent to what it receives yearly since the 1990’s.

“We are aware of the needs of our athletes, and we have not forgotten our ugly experience in the recent Beijing Olympics. I will support efforts to increase the PSC budget as long as the agency is able to convince us where the people’s money would be used and for what purpose,” Escudero said.

“If PSC officials could guarantee the nation that with an increased budget, given that government could afford to give it, and it would be sufficient to win us an Olympic gold medal, then I am raising my hand for a budget increase,” Escudero added.

But Escudero also said the PSC could work efficiently around a smaller budget, especially with only the Southeast Asian Games in Laos as the only big event in the PSC’s calendar of expenses.

“Then, we could work together to increase the budget every year without sacrificing the athletes’ training, specially those with Olympic potential,” Escudero said. “We should keep our focus on the Olympics, and start our rise from the sporting abyss today.”

Even PSC officials admitted they would work with whatever Congress had earlier approved for the agency.