PSC tells NSAs to liquidate expenses

After all the spending, it’s now time to liquidate. Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez said national sports associations who fail to liquidate their expenses for the recent SEA Games or the year that’s about to end will receive no further assistance from the PSC.

Ramirez said the government, particularly Congress and the Commission on Audit, is now very strict against the PSC on how it spends its annual budget for the training of the national athletes.

"The government, especially Congress, is now asserting its role in that we should be more responsible in our spending. In the past, they don’t really give special attention to it but now they are looking into our accounting.

"And they are very, very strict," said Ramirez.

For the training of the RP athletes for the SEA Games, the PSC spent P29 million while the First Gentleman Foundation doled out at least P54 million for a total of P83,509,713.

Mike Keon, who handled the training of the athletes, reported that 36 NSAs were exposed to different international competitions 121 times. He added that 20 of these NSAs underwent training abroad.

Keon said the amount does not include those that were directly given by the godfathers to the NSAs. He added that atletics got the most with P12 million for 14 foreign exposures.

Boxing was the next most traveled NSA with nine overseas exposures followed by golf with eight and tennis with seven.

Ramirez said for those who have not liquidated, it’s time to liquidate.

"Those NSAs who have not liquidated we cannot extend financial assistance because we are being asked by the COA and the government itself," said Ramirez.

The PSC chief, who is in Malaysia as part of President Arroyo’s entourage to the Asean Summit, said the liquidation should be done as soon as possible as the country will start preparing for the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar.