Elections: who cares about sports?

The circus is back in town. The official campaign has started, and off the bat, candidates are polluting our roadways and any flat surface they can with their announcements and criticism of other candidates and the current administration. The ads scream loud in places they shouldn’t be, with a minority even proclaiming the good deeds of the candidate being pushed upon us.

One thing is clear, you are never going to hear anything about sports in any of these campaigns. Sports is not considered a core issue, a priority matter of national import. Sports is, sadly, considered a luxury, a diversion, not as important as whatever is discussed during elections.

The vast majority of candidates, obviously, do not consider sports (or well-being) an integral part of a strong, empowered, alert society. They are after the hungry masses, who can be swayed by a well-placed jingle, catchphrase or motherhood statement. Throughout our recent political history, Philippine sports enjoyed its biggest budget during the times of Presidents Ferdinand Marcos and Fidel Ramos.

One consolation would be the declared aim of certain party-list groups to advocate sports development or redevelopment. Although some party-lists are thinly-veiled backdoors for businessmen and politicians to get into congress to protect their own interests, there may hopefully be one or two who intend to make a difference in sports.

A relative newcomer to the political arena claims to have such an agenda. Their name is a mouthful: Philippine Association of Country-Urban Poor Youth Advancement and Welfare (PACYAW) or Party-List 167. But there is more to them than a catchy party name.

They’ve done their homework.

“UNESCO says that each country should allocate at least 5 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to development of the educational system,” says Rey Pineda, one of their candidates, and also the president of the Philippine Lawn Bowls Association based in Angeles, Pampanga. “The Philippines only sets aside about 3.5 percent of the GDP and a substantial portion of that leaks out in the form of corruption.”

According to Pineda, one of their main ideas is to revisit the educational system, which they consider is grossly outdated, especially in the provinces. Underfed children will not be able to maintain their focus for the eight hours or so required to absorb what is being taught in school.

“The curriculum and modes of teaching in our schools was set up by American Thomasite missionaries more than a century ago. It doesn’t work anymore, especially in a fast-moving, interconnected global economy,” says Pineda, who has done research in the field of education.

“Given the shortage of classrooms, we propose that we try build communities wherein families don’t get a dole-out, but are helped to become responsible for the proper feeding of their children. In that way, they are more alert, attentive, and productive. Then they won’t need to spend as much time in school.”

According to PACYAW, if children are given four hours of instruction every other day, and schoolwork is augmented by learning through cable television and the Internet, more students can be accommodated, and the country will start to feel the impact within the next decade.

But what will the students do with the rest of their time?

“They will be getting into sports,” Pineda offers. “PE is being given less and less importance, and this is a big contributor to the deterioration of education in our country. Children who are more focused will need less instruction, and they will have more time to learn at home, help their parents, and get healthier. If we were a nation of athletes, our people would be able to accomplish much more.”

Pineda has a point. A physically stronger country would require billions of pesos less expenditure in health care, produce better results, and consume less resources. Sports has been used by local governments and even the Philippine National Police to change the lifestyle of its members, and has been very successful.

PACYAW has a five-point legislative agenda which covers a Magna Carta for informal settlers and indigenous peoples, education, human rights, Overseas Filipino Workers and sports. So far, they seem to have a clear idea on the role of sports in nation-building, no more and no less important than other rights and privileges in modern society.