Honasan will push for fixed PSC budget

Sen. Gringo Honasan yesterday said he would bat for a fixed annual budget for the Philippine Sports Commission to ensure enough funds for the country’s sports development programs and give RP sports a big boost.

“If you ask me what ails Philippine sports, the answer is simple – it lacks the need for institutional support, monetary and otherwise,” Honasan said in yesterday’s launch of the Philippine Sports Institute’s programs at the Philsports Arena.

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“In fact, what I’m advocating for is indexing and benchmarking our sports development expenditures as a fixed percentage of our total annual national budget or our gross domestic product.

“That, in my view, is the only way we can assure not just having enough funds in the long-term for our sports development program but, more importantly, actually reaping its benefits,” Honasan said.

Honasan, who has pushed for a Magna Carta for athletes, has pointed out that sports has long been marginalized in terms of government priority.

“There must be deliberate plans to promote and develop sports on a wide scale in order to achieve maximum benefits. Unfortunately, sports development is frequently marginalized against other budgetary priorities of the government,” said Honasan.

“We must give sports development its due by providing a higher budgetary priority. There is too much reliance on generous patrons who are too few and far between.

“Let us not quibble about how much we should or can actually spend for our national sports development program. This is not a luxury, but an investment on human resources. As such, it is entitled to a larger share of the budget,” he said.

Honasan also lashed out at sectors expecting too much from the national athletes and yet couldn’t chip in to help them financially.