MANILA, Philippines - As expected, businessman Manny V. Pangilinan, also known as MVP, has come to the rescue of Philippine sports.
The sports-minded chairman of telecommunications giant Smart and PLDT yesterday agreed to sponsor a big group of athletes that will represent the country in the coming SEA Games.
Pangilinan met with Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco at the latter’s residence in Forbes Park in Makati.
And by the time the meeting was over, the country’s top sports officials were grinning from ear to ear.
“If we only have 20 MVPs then there will be no problem for Philippine sports,” said Garcia, who just the other day said the government sports agency is in need of P15 million for the SEAG campaign.
“The first time MVP said was, ‘I heard you need P15 million. You only need to raise a few more,’” Garcia recalled.
The Smart chairman, according to Garcia, will contribute P10 million for the participation of the Pinoy athletes in basketball, boxing, football, badminton, taekwondo, tennis and cycling.
“They want to cover these sports. We did not round it up yet but it’s around P10 million,” said Garcia.
Maynilad president Ricky Vargas and Meralco senior vice president for customer retail services and corporate communications Alfredo S. Panlilio, as well as POC spokesman Jose Romasanta, were also at the meeting.
Garcia said they found no need to convince MVP about the cause.
“He’s so easy to talk to. He understands the problem and he was ready with the solution,” said the PSC chairman, who tried hard to look for ways to thank the MVP group.
“If only we can put their names in the uniforms,” said Garcia.
Garcia said with MVP’s support, he expects others to follow suit.
“I can sleep well tonight. And tomorrow we can start looking for the P5 million more,” he said, adding that he still intends to sit down with Malacañang officials regarding the extra funding.
The P30 million, which the PSC earlier set aside for the coming SEA Games is only enough to cover 375 athletes at the reduced price of P80,000 per head from the previous estimate of P100,000.
But the PSC has already agreed to fund 424 athletes and 140 officials based on the recommendations of the SEA Games working group, leading to a shortfall of P15 million.
There are 110 more Filipino athletes and 21 officials (technical, medical and administrative) knocking on the doors to Indonesia.
But the PSC said they can only go if they can look for their own sponsors who will pay for their airfare, accommodation, uniforms and allowances.