Ramirez, Villar set vital meet on PSC budget

The 2006 budget of the Philippine Sports Commission will be tackled and broken down in detail when PSC chairman Butch Ramirez sits down with Sen. Manny Villar on Jan. 17.

The meeting is expected to be very crucial considering that the PSC budget this year only needs Senate approval after getting the blessings from the lower House.

The budget department approved a measly budget of P27 million for the PSC this year. But Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, a former PSC commissioner, said "this is not the way to treat sports."

Puentevella filed House Resolution 1050 asking the budget department to reconsider and give the PSC a budget of P250 million. The move gained the approval of 120 congressmen.

Puentevella said the PSC deserves more considering that the country had just won the overall crown in the SEA Games, and that it is preparing for the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar this December.

"We now have a chance to explain to the good senators our budget profile. We will let them understand. The meeting will be a good venue for us to show them the picture of the sports map," Ramirez said.

The PSC chairman expressed gratitude to Puentevella and each of the congressmen who signed the House resolution.

"We are very happy about the initiative of Congressman Puentevella and the 120 congressmen who signed," he said.

"But right now nothing is definite yet. We still don’t know if we will get the P250 million or the P27 million or P100 million. We can only hope for the best," Ramirez added.