Olympics no junket for officials - PSC

MANILA, Philippines - There shouldn’t be any problem if there will be more officials than athletes in the Philippine delegation to the forthcoming London Olympics.

“First, this is not a junket for the officials,” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia amid reports suggesting that the London trip is one.

Even before the delegation departs for London, questions have already been raised why there are more officials accompanying the 11 Filipino participants in London.

“But it’s a natural thing. It’s normal,” said Garcia who added that for each athlete or each sport alone, a coach and a team manager is required and needed.

“They all need coaches,” the PSC chief said, “and a team manager because in cases of dispute only the team manager is allowed to file a protest.”

With 11 athletes in eight sports disciplines, including athletics, archery, boxing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming and weightlifting, the number of coaches and team managers alone should easily exceed a dozen.

The Philippine Olympic Committee will have its own representatives led by its president, Jose Cojuangco, chairman Monico Puentevella and secretary-general Steve Hontiveros.

International Olympic Committee representative to the Philippines Frank Elizalde will join them in London.

Manny Lopez, POC vice president, will be there as chef-de-mission of the Philippine contingent, and Garcia as the lone representative of the government.

“The IOC, and not the PSC, is spending for them. Sagot ng IOC yan, including the expenses for the athletes, coaches and team manager,” said Garcia.

“We are not spending people’s money for these officials,” he added.

The POC also formed its own marketing group and was successful enough that it found no need to spend the P30 million that the PSC allotted for this year’s Olympics.

“At most, we asked help from the PSC in form of allowances for the athletes and coaches,” said Lopez.