The Philippine Sports Commission can only spend P20 million for the equipment needed by the hundreds of Filipino athletes for the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in December.
Commissioner Ritchie Garcia, also the deputy chef-de-mission of the RP delegation to Thailand, yesterday reminded everyone of the amount because the requests had already gone up to P40 million.
“While we only have P20 million to spend for the equipment, we have received requests from the different national sports associations amounting fromP38 million to P40 million,” said Garcia.
“And this has given me gray hair. We have to slash this amount. We need to remind the NSAs to limit their requests to the essential items,” he said during the PSA Forum at Shakey’s along United Nations Avenue.
Chairman Butch Ramirez and commissioner Joey Mundo were also present during the public forum.
Garcia said they noticed that some NSAs included in their requests equipment to be used by athletes in their training pool, and not necessarily by those going to Thailand.
“Again, they were told to focus on the athletes going to the SEA Games. I think we can cut the amount by half,” said Garcia, deputy to RP chef-de-mission Monico Puentevella.
There are 716 athletes being considered for inclusion to the RP team, and again the PSC is hoping that this number will go down to around 400 to 500 before the Oct. 8 deadline for submission of entries.
Garcia said the PSC will spend P50 million for the actual participation of the RP team, and P15 million more for parade uniforms, track suits and competition outfit.
Garcia said they expect to spend around P80,000 per person, including close to 200 officials and personnel that will handle the medical, technical and even nutritional needs of the athletes.
“So if we have a delegation of 600, then that would amount to P48 million which is well within the budget,” he said.