Cojuangco cites needs of Philippine sports

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco yesterday reacted to Sen. Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero’s claims that the different national sports associations (NSAs) tend to “overpromise” in assessing their respective perfomances year in and year out.

Escudero thinks that the close to 50 NSAs under the POC should be more transparent as they seek their share in the already limited budget for Philippine sports.

Jose ‘Peping’ Cojuangco, the POC president, said instead of being critical of the NSAs, particularly its leaders, the senator who’s running as Vice President in the 2016 elections should have a better understanding of the general situation.

“They (government leaders) should look at the quality and quality of food that our athletes can get with their allowance. They should look at their training facilities, either they are old or not in good condition. And the training venues are in polluted areas,” said Cojuangco.

The POC president, who also heads Equestrian Association of the Philippines, said the national athletes, including the NSA leaders, are practically being asked to do more with less.

The expectations are always high, and when the athletes fail to deliver, the blame tends to fall on the NSAs or the POC and the Philippine Sports Commission, according to Cojuangco.

“We need a new training center and hindi naman nila maibigay (they cannot provide it),” said Cojuangco of those in government.

“Look at the salary of the coaches. We cannot hire good coaches with the salary scale that we can afford. Some of our coaches end up abroad for a better salary,” he said.

The PSC, a government agency, is in charge of feeding the NSAs and the hundreds of athletes, but with very limited budget from Congress it can only do as much.

The PSC budget pales in comparison to what the other neighboring countries receive from their governments.

“Since I became POC president, how many laws did Congress pass in favor of Philippine sports, except perhaps for the amendment of the Incentives Act,” said Cojuangco.

Sports critics, according to the POC chief, always look at the Southeast Asian Games as the basis of their contention that the country’s sports leaders are not doing a very good job,

Cojuangco stressed that there are other competitions to look at other that the SEA Games or even the Asian Games or the Olympics.

“Remember, the SEA Games is a friendly aggrupation of the member countries where the host has the privilege to add certain events to boost its bid for the overall title,” he said.

“There are other competitions like the World Championships where our athletes compete. But these leaders must first see if the money they’re giving to sports is enough,” said Cojuangco.

“Tingnan nila kung ang perang binibigay nila ay sapat. Because in reality we are doing quite well,” he said.