Fund scarcity not an excuse

LONDON – With the Olympics only a few days away from closing, not a few Philippine sports officials are pointing to lack of government support as the factor leading to a dismal performance of Filipino athletes here.

But Philippine Olympic Committee chairman Monico Puentevella said nobody’s blaming President Noynoy Aquino. “We believe the President is misinformed particularly with regard to the law mandating Pagcor to allocate five percent of its gross income for the development of Philippine sports,” said Puentevella. “We are raising this issue because Pagcor is violating the law by remitting only half of what is due to the Philippine Sports Commission. If the PSC is receiving P600 million a year from Pagcor, it should be P1.2 billion. The law has been violated since the term of President Estrada and we are seriously considering going to court to claim what is due on a retroactive basis.”

If Pagcor yields to pressure from sports officials who insist they’re on the side of the law, it could mean a huge windfall for Philippine sports, estimated to be at least P7 billion dating back to 14 years. Puentevella said if only Pagcor remitted the correct amount every year, Filipino athletes wouldn’t be as deprived of international exposure as they’ve been over the past decade.

Yet Philippine chef de mission Manny Lopez said yesterday relying almost exclusively on public sector funding won’t bail out the country’s deterioration as a sports power even just in Southeast Asia.

“Of course, funding is a major problem,” he said. “But let’s face it. Sports is just not a top priority with government so we can’t really expect all-out support. I think a good leader must be resourceful to locate sources of funding in the private sector when government support is not enough.”

Beyond the lack of funding, Lopez said what is urgent is to lay out a comprehensive sports development program for the country to involve the Department of Education and the school system.

“No one group can do it,” he said. “It won’t be the POC or the PSC alone. We’ve got to incorporate sports into the school curriculum particularly in the elementary grades. Talent identification is a priority and we can do it if we’ve got a grassroots development program in place down to the school level. We also need to select the sports where we can excel. Take South Korea’s example in archery. It’s a sport where South Korea is guaranteed gold medals in every Olympics. We’ve got talented athletes all over the country, potential international medalists. We need to find them, train them and prepare them for competition. It will take at least six years to develop world-class athletes and we’ve got to start now.”

Lopez said he has spoken with the 11 Filipino athletes here and except for judo’s Tomohiko Hoshina, they all want to return to the Olympics and improve their performance in Rio de Janeiro. Hoshina, hampered by a bum left knee, will likely retire from competition and focus on his job as a high school teacher in Japan.

“When we were in amateur boxing, we made do with whatever funding we could get and we produced results,” said Lopez. “It’s a matter of being resourceful and focused.”   

Lopez’ vision of including sports in the curriculum of schools mirrored a similar approach suggested by Lord Sebastian Coe, head of the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. Coe said the Olympics provide a unique window for a new generation to be involved in sports. He called on the English parliament to do more to ensure that children are given the chance to play sports in school. Appropriately, the theme for the London Olympics is “Inspire a Generation.”

“We need to recognize that the world has changed, particularly for many teachers,” said Coe. “If you want additional hours outside of that curriculum then we may need to start recognizing the extra work that physical education teachers by instinct want to do. Space has to be found in the timetable to make sure that all kids, particularly in the state sector, get good, high quality physical education.”

Even as Great Britain has vaulted to third place in the gold medal standings, Coe isn’t satisfied with what the future holds for UK sports. “Immediately that the Games are over, we need to develop a national sports strategy,” said Coe. “Let’s pull together the main departments in government and agree (on) a national strategy. And agree on how we deliver it. Some great stuff has come out of the Games already and we will have to keep those things going. But if we’re going to maintain at least some of the momentum from the Games, we need a step-change.” It’s a call that resonates for Philippine sports, too.