PSC can’t afford costly nutrition of elite athletes

MANILA, Philippines - Feeding the national athletes right and providing them with all the proper nutrition on a daily basis doesn’t come cheap.

“It will take P1,000 a day and that’s P30,000 a month (per athlete),” said Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia yesterday.

And with its very limited budget, the government sports agency just can’t do it for the priority athletes numbering close to 150.

“A very important ingredient (in winning) is nutrition,” added the PSC chairman, comparing an athlete to a car with brand new tires and an empty gas tank.

“Kung walang gasolina, kahit may apat na bagong gulong ka hindi tatakbo ang kotse mo,” said Garcia.

The priority athletes from 10 different sports train under strength and conditioning experts from the United States as they prepare for major international competitions.

Up ahead are the Southeast Asian Games in Myanmar in December and the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea next year.

Garcia said the priority athletes need all the help but the PSC as well as the Philippine Olympic Committee under Jose Cojuangco can only do so much.

To do this, the PSC will have to spend around P4.5 million a month on food alone.

There are hundreds more under the PSC wings but are not included on the priority list.

A priority athlete receives as much as P40,000 a month in allowances from the PSC but Cojuangco said it’s not supposed to be spent on their food.

“It’s supposed to be for the families of these athletes,” said the POC president.

Garcia and Cojuangco sat down with members of the House Committee on Youth and Sports led by Anthony del Rosario (first district of Davao del Norte), Yeng Guiao (first district of Pampanga) and Jonathan dela Cruz (Party List Abakada Guro).

“We gave the congressmen a comparison of what we spend on our athletes and what our neighboring countries spend on theirs. Others spend P7 billion a year on their athletes,” said Garcia.

“And we expect them (Filipino athletes) to win the gold medals. We have one of the lowest budgets. It opened their (congressmen) eyes,” Garcia added.

Cojuangco said it was a great opportunity to meet the new members of the House Committee on Youth and Sports which also includes boxing icon Manny Pacquiao (Sarangani).

“It was an organizational meeting and they wanted to hear from us and what we have in our minds. Before, we get invited to Congress to be investigated upon. But now we are invited because they want to help,” said Cojuangco, a former congressman.

“That’s the job of congress,” he said.