The difficulty of new sports laws

Every time there are national elections, the Filipino people reluctantly hope that, this time, there will be change. The change they expect comes in the form of a president who truly cares about their welfare, and will change the economy, make them competitive globally, and make it easier to educate and feed their children. For those of us in sports, the slim hope of things changing is... never mind.

In the last few years, there have been quite a few attempts to put up laws and make changes in Congress to improve the physical education and even national programs of the government. Rep. Monico Puentevella, who is also co-chairman of the committee on sports and laws of the Philippine Olympic Committee, attempted for years to have the Philippine Sports Commission chairmanship elevated to a cabinet-level position. Currently, the PSC chair is considered an undersecretary under the Office of the President. If the PSC were a full department, it would have its own budget, which would remove many obstacles to a true mass-based and elite sports program.

Sadly, Puentevella found little support in the Lower House, and the move died.

In the last 20 years, there have been just two laws that have had a major impact on Philippine sports nationwide, aside from the devolution of sports from the Department of Education. The first was Republic Act 6847 creating the Philippine Sports Commission back in 1990. Sen. Pia Cayetano, in a hearing of the committee chaired by Sen.Gringo Honasan last month, echoed the sentiment of many sports leaders that the legislation needs refreshing. The other, of course, would be Republic Act 9850, which Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri sponsored to make arnis the official sport of the Philippines and require it to be taught in all schools. It took nine years, since Zubiri was one of the Spice Boys in Congress.

How difficult is it? First of all, you need a senator or congressman to sponsor the said bill, and believe in it to see it through, whether or not it may be against other lawmakers’ interests. Then, the legislator concerned must be a member of chair of the pertinent committee. Next, said committee must conduct public hearings to gather information and get the involvement of the community involved. Fourth - and this is the hard part - the senator or congressman must rally support from the other chamber.

Those four steps alone may take more than a year already. And if the lawmaker promoting the bill is only going to be there for three years, the bill might be buried under “more important” legislature, or stalled by debate, interpellation, privilege speeches and bargaining. Speaking of bargaining, every step of the way, the bill’s sponsor must barter, cajole, trade or otherwise give up something to move the proposed law along further. And along the way, the bill is constantly being refined and revised.

Next, the bill must be calendared for reading, each version in each chamber. That may take months, or years if it is deferred. There are also public holidays, investigations, bicameral activities and other causes of delay, rightly or wrongly. Hearings do not often directly produce results. If you recall, there were a handful of hearings a few years ago on the alleged fake Filipinos playing in the PBA. There have been hearings on the various failures of national athletes in international competitions, and the Olympic medal drought. None of them have resulted in the creation of any relevant laws.

All this time, it is competing for more newsworthy and impactful bills.

Many have made the headlines, like the Cheaper Medicines Act, the Right to Information Act, Anti-Terrorism Law, and so on. There is also the occasional resolution congratulating or condemning public persons or acts affecting the Philippines, and the renaming of city streets, and so on.

What if, in between all these activities, Congress ends its regular session because terms are finished and another election comes up? Remember, parallel efforts are needed in both chambers to push the measure forward. And after all that, the Senate and House bills must be consolidated into one version, with both houses approving the final version.

After all of that, you still need concurrence from the executive branch. In other words, the sitting President must sign it into law.

Scheduling that in itself is a nightmare. The sponsor of the law-to-be must be well-connected enough within the administration to get that piece of paper in front of the Chief Executive. That is if he or she hasn’t given up by this time.

And at the end of the day, if you do get the law passed, will all provisions be followed? I doubt it. The Executive Order establishing the National Sports Development Fund is not being followed, as the pertinent government agencies are not remitting the amounts that are needed to sustain the agency, leaving an estimated shortfall of P 40 to 50 million a month. This despite an opinion issued by the Department of Justice way back in 1996.

So is it worth it? Perhaps if we have a citizens’ watchdog group looking after the interests of sports, maybe, just maybe, we have a better chance.