PSC confident WADA issue resolved soon

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) is extremely confident the brewing issue with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which has placed the country under threat of suspension from international competitions, will be resolved sooner than expected.

PSC chairman Richard Bachmann and executive director Paulo Tatad together with Philippine National Anti-Doping Organization (PHI-NADO) officer Nathan Vasquez made the assurance during yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

“We are working with Malacañang with the legislative requirements of WADA. The help of Malacañang is greatly appreciated,” said Bachmann during the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Milo, PLDT/Smart and the country’s 24/7 sports app, ArenaPlus.

To make sure the country complies with all the WADA requirements, Bachmann called for the need to empower PHI-NADO, which is undermanned as it is right now, into a fully independent and operational group with the personnel that could cater to the thousands of athletes.

“A perfect example is Indonesia which was non-compliant in 2021. They were forced to establish their own organization (like PHI-NADO),” said Vasquez.

The issue came to a boil when WADA wrote the PSC last January after a previous notice in September last year for its alleged failure to comply to the WADA code. Failure to respond positively in 21 days could have led to a suspension on the Philippines from international events like the Southeast Asian Games, Asian Games and even the coming Paris Olympics.

“The Office of the President is helping us and the POC and the NSAs are more collaborative. If we have that in place, rest assured we will not have this administrative issues moving forward,” said Tatad.