Budget slice to exact toll on grassroots

MANILA, Philippines - With its request for a bigger share from the proposed 2011 general appropriations act (GAA) unlikely to be granted, the Philippine Sports Commission is considering either shelving its grassroots programs for next year or looking for funding elsewhere.

PSC chairman Richie Garcia said the P168 million that the Department of Budget and Management had endorsed for the PSC in the proposed P1.645 trillion national budget won’t fit in to finance the agency’s planned revival of the Batang Pinoy youth competitions and the National Games in 2011.

“With P168 million, a lot of programs will have to be shelved again, including the grassroots projects National Games and Batang Pinoy,” Garcia said when he graced the PSA Forum along with commissioner Chito Loyzaga.

To save the programs, though, Garcia said the PSC might draw money from the National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), the agency’s war chest for athletes, pooled from the remittances of state-run casinos, among others. Or the PSC might turn to private sponsors.

“Unless these are funded by the NSDF from Pagcor, we might move them again for another year. But we will have to find ways. If we can’t get funding from government through the GAA, then we might tap the private sector for our grassroots,” he said.

The DBM had slashed the PSC’s current P220-plus million budget to P168 million for 2011, forcing Garcia and his board to seek congressional help.

The agency is set to appear in Congress today to defend its budget proposal. Garcia said the PSC budget is being sponsored by Malabon Rep. Josephine Lacson Noel and Sen. Franklin Drilon. Sen. Lito Lapid has also assured the support of the Senate committee on games, amusement and sports, according to the PSC chief.