A failure of leadership in RP sports

QUO vadis, Philippine sports?

One is moved to ask the question in the face of the current distressing spectacle of top sports organizations and leaders wracked in conflict and wrangling over who should be in control. No wonder we Filipinos have become uncompetitive in international sports competition and national sports are in such a sad state today.

You would think that after our disastrous performance at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – with not a single medal to show for all the expense and effort – our sports leaders would have buckled down to work to repair and improve the leadership and management of Philippine sports. But no, it seems we have just sunk deeper into the abyss of futility and confusion.

I’m no sports expert, but just a sports enthusiast who believes that sports is one realm where our country and our people — by reason of our size and youthful demographics – could become more competitive in the world. And I have done my share of lifting to mobilize more private sector support for sports development in the country.

As I watch, however, the current intramurals in our national sports arena I cannot feel demoralized and saddened. Like others, I had hoped that the quadrennial elections of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) last November would produce a new leadership and a fresh agenda for national sports to follow. Instead, it appears that the old guard succeeded in retaining control and in securing another four years to govern national sports.

That might not be bad in itself had the reelected leadership acknowledged its shortcomings in Beijing and thrown itself into the challenge of revitalizing our sports agenda. But now, as far as I can tell from the stories in the papers, it is locked in confrontation with the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

No day passes nowadays in which the POC and PSC are not trading charges against each other, and in which one wing of our sports community is not denouncing another wing, and so on, ad nauseam.

As a result, national sports are hopelessly trapped in the controversy. And it seems to a layman like myself that the nation cannot extricate itself from the situation unless other voices come in to inject reason and mediate the opposing views.

Without claiming to decide on who is wrong and who is right in this controversy, I believe that we can all get back on track in our sports agenda if everyone would just return to and honor first principles for advancing sports development in a free society. These are hallowed in the Olympic Charter and in the law creating our official sports body, the PSC. Among these principles are:

1. Both the private sector and government have an important role to play in the development of national sports. Without one or the other, we will get nowhere.

2. When the Olympic Charter says that government should not interfere in the activities of private sports associations like the POC and the National Sports Associations (NSAs), it means precisely that. Government’s assistance is welcome and necessary, but it may not intrude into the leadership and management of sports associations and programs.

3. The converse of this principle of non-interference by government is also true, however. The POC should not interfere in the policies and activities of the PSC or other government bodies engaged in sports. The principle of non-interference runs both ways. The POC has no business dictating on government on who should be at the helm of the sports commission and on what its programs should be. Each side has its own sphere of responsibility.

4. Another principle that should be remembered is the one about accountability. The disaster that befell us in Beijing wasn’t just a case of bad luck. Some people and some policies were responsible for that disaster. And changes should be in order.

On government’s end, the process of reform appears to be already under way. New managers have been put in place. A full financial and management audit is under way. And there is promise of more resources being put into sports.

On the private sector end, sadly accountability and reform seem to be the farthest thing on its mind. We have yet to hear one snippet of a new sports agenda for the nation to follow. From where I sit, wittingly or unwittingly, the POC’s attention appears to have been diverted away from the business of revitalizing Philippine sports to the arena of power politics and patronage.

Some friends and readers have suggested to me that this state of affairs is a just an indicator of the bigger thing that is really wrong with national sports today. We are where we are because we have a problem of both leadership and management in Philippine sports. The system simply is not working. The top-down management system is sclerotic and has no vital connection with athletes, players and sports enthusiasts throughout the length and breadth of this land. And it has not helped that professional politicians dominate the citadels of sports leadership, bringing with them their baggage of patronage and power politics.

Disentangling the mess that is Philippine sports is a job for expert leaders and managers. But I will venture the opinion that (1) nothing much will change unless Philippine sports steps outside the present dysfunctional box and charts a new course forward. And (2) nothing much will change unless Government takes a more proactive role in stirring sports development in our country.

The latter point is a delicate one, but it has to be said. The private sector alone – working through the POC and the NSAs – simply cannot do the job. Government has to be active in the arena. Only the public sector can marshal the resources for aggressive sports development. Our public and private schools have to be brought into the loop. Resources and expertise have to be invested in inculcating a culture of sports excellence throughout the country. My friends in the diplomatic community have told me that this is how other countries have raised their sports to world competitiveness. So this is also what we must do.

Let us preserve by all means the lines of demarcation between Government and the private sector in Philippine sports. But let us not handcuff one or the other from doing its utmost to achieve the heights of sports excellence.

Manila Polo Club

The affluent environment of the Filipino polo world is no different from the intramurals at the national level. There are approximately 40 polo players in the entire country. Yet, there have always been quarrelsome cliques since I was a teenage dependent in the club. In the last few weeks, the intramurals hit the newspapers. Ironically, the petty squabble involves two rival groups who perennially play a game of “one-upmanship” against each other.

All this makes me wonder whether factionalism is a cultural thing with us Filipinos. Are we destined to always divide instead of unite in whatever undertaking? Is the crab mentality in our blood?