Trillanes Senate bill pushes for creation of sports body

MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV sees sports development back under the radar of Malacañang soon when his Senate Bill 3092, known as “An act creating the Department of Sports,” gets the needed push from both houses of Congress and the final stamp of approval of no less than President Benigno S. Aquino, himself.

Trillanes, who is chairman of the Senate Committee for Sports, also seeks to abolish the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) that was formed in 1992 by the late President Cory Aquino, saying it will complete the cycle between the iconic late president and the incumbent Chief Executive as the country tries to strengthen its bid for its first ever Olympic gold medal after so many failures.

Trillanes had met with some of the country’s top sports officials to discus SB 3092 during a recent hearing attended by Frank Elizalde, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative to the Philippines and PSC chairman Ricardo Garcia.

Also present were former Bacolod Congressman Monico Puentevella, Department of Education Assistant Secretary Antonio Umali, Philippine Fencing Association president Victor Africa, and Civil Service Commission director Prisco Rivera.

At present, the PSC serves only as a government funding arm to train and send athletes to important international sporting competitions, including the Southeast Asian Games and the Asian Games.

The PSC also spends for the training expenses of a few athletes seeking slots in the Olympics.

At present the Philippines is sending only a lean team to the London Games on July 27 to Aug. 12. It is composed of Fil-Am BMX rider Daniel Caluag, swimmers Jessie Khing Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi, boxer Mark Anthony Barriga, judoka Tomohiko Hoshina, skeet shooter Brian Rosario, long jumper Marestella Torres and steeplechaser Rene Herrera, and weightlifter Hidylin Diaz.

“The PSC chairman, at present, holds a rank equivalent to an undersecretary,” Trillanes said. “Once Senate Bill 3092 becomes a law, a new department dedicated to sports will have a leader who will be as close as he can be to the president and holding a position with the rank of a secretary, thereby giving sports an even greater access to the president’s list of priorities.”

Trillanes said the bill also aims to put up an Amateur Sports Development Bureau to look after grassroots development, while an International Sports Development Bureau will take care of athletes’ training for international competitions.

Just like when the PSC was first established, Trillanes proposed an initial P400 million budget allocation for the Department of Sports. The PSC was also given P400 million when it was formed in 1992. The PSC budget, however, suffered major cutbacks soon after.

Sports in the country used to be managed by the Executive Department through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECS) under the late President Marcos. It was renamed by the revolutionary government of the late President Cory Aquino to the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS) in 1986.

After the 1987 Constitution was ratified, both houses of Congress formed the PSC, which remains in charge of sports development programs up to now.

“If the bill gets signed by President Noynoy Aquino into a law, it will also mark a complete cycle as it was his mother who made the PSC possible, Trillanes said.  “The calls of the time, however, change and there is now an urgent need to further strengthen government’s sports programs if we serious about achieving what now seems very hard to achieve: an Olympic gold.”