PSC and women's role in sports

This column is the last of five on proposed amendments to Republic Act (RA) 6847 known as “The Philippine Sports Commission Act”. At this point, it might be good for Cong. Cesar Jalosjos, chairman of the House Committee on Youth and Sports and principal author of House Bill (HB) 6090 to provide for the enhancement of gender equity in sports.

As pointed out by Dr. Aparicio Mequi, former Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman and current dean of the college of physical education of Foundation University (FU) in Dumaguete, HB 6090 might serve the purpose of the country and the other half of the Philippine population, the women, in a more meaningful way if the new law would require the PSC to set aside, say, 20 percent of its budget for gender equity programs in sports.

That amount could be used to provide for, among other things, leadership training for women to assume significant roles in Philippine sports, scholarships for girls and women athletes and the conduct of women sporting activities. Mequi says that if his memory serves him right, the Olympic charter mandates that at least 20 percent of positions in the National Olympic Committees and National Sports Associations are to be occupied by women.

We do not have to go overseas for successful models of sports programs for women. Mequi says that in the 1950’s, Cebu Institute of Technology (CIT) had a program that produced gold medalists in national athletics meets such as Inocencia Solis, Visitacion Banada and Francisca Sanopal. CIT’s all women’s team dominated athletics competitions then.

The school of the Sisters of Mary in Cavite specializes in girls’ athletics and their wards have turned in outstanding performances in PATAFA (Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association) meets.

Most recently, FU, as part of its gender equity sports program sets aside five scholarship slots for incoming freshmen women track athletes. If things go as planned, FU should be dominating collegiate women’s athletics competitions in three to four years.

These initiatives can be supported by the PSC by setting up, initially, pilot projects for girls and women’s athletics programs. Athletics is the ideal sport to promote gender equity since we have a great number of all-weather track ovals all over the country and we do not have special and ultra expensive facilities and equipment to carry out the program. If this fairly simple program is implemented, the PSC and lawmakers responsible for crafting the new law would then leave an enduring legacy to Philippine sports that will benefit one half of the Philippine population. Any new law should therefore provide for gender equity, in the same way that it is rightfully promoting sports for the differently-abled.

The funding of sports development has always been one of the favorite topics of those who look at sports development simply from the point of view of winning an Olympic gold medal. I do not say that such an objective is a “wrong” one. What I am however saying is that it is a narrow one under the concept of sports and physical fitness for all.

The obsession with the Olympic gold has in a way reinforced the flawed argument that, all it takes to win an Olympic gold is to pour money into the effort and spend money as if it were running out of style. Lost in all these highly emotional arguments is the fact that there are things that can be done that do not require too much money and yet enhance one’s chances of capturing that elusive Olympic gold. One is policy reform that mandates focusing on a limited certain sports based on certain criteria. This in turn is possible if you have a Master Plan prepared with sufficient rigor.

While we say that the answer to capturing an Olympic gold does not always require increased funding for sport for there are such things as policy reforms, this does not mean however that the sports sector cannot use additional funds. Increased funding for sports can happen if, for example, the provision on PAGCOR’s contribution to the National Sports Development Fund under RA 6847 were interpreted to comply with the original intent of the law: the five percent contribution of PAGCOR’s revenue to PSC is computed after deducting the franchise tax but before the share of both the national government and NAPOCOR are deducted.

I also agree with the reiteration in other HBs of the provision in RA 6847 that all donations and contributions to the PSC are exempt from donor’s taxes and (that they) shall be deductible in full in the computation of the taxable net income of the donor.