PSC gets cold reception on 'priority' program

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Sports Commission is looking at another approach to its “priority athletes” program after receiving a lukewarm response from majority of the qualified bets.

Only medal-winning athletes from track and field, to date, have submitted themselves to the program, in which they will be contractually bound to train full-time while getting higher monthly allowances ranging from P25,000 to P40,000.

PSC chairman Richie Garcia said one of the alternatives they are studying is to re-align what’s supposed to be the budget for the priority athletes’ allowances to hiring foreign coaches in their sports instead.

“We don’t have a budget for foreign coaches so we can re-align the budget for allowances to that. If we can increase our budget for foreign coaches from the current rate of $1,500 (a month) to around $3,000  (monthly), we can get at least a Class B foreign coach and help even those outside the priority athletes list,” said Garcia.

The PSC has nominated all medalists in the last SEA Games in Indonesia to the priority athletes program, some 150 of them, but majority couldn’t commit to a full-time basis for various reasons.

“I don’t think we can expect (100 percent participation). Based on feedbacks we get, a lot of these athletes have a little sideline, like coaching college and junior teams, and maybe they are earning more than what we’re offering,” said Garcia.

“There are also legitimate reasons why some athletes can’t (be full-time). Some athletes are also students; they can only attend training early in the morning or late in the afternoon. And we don’t like to be the reason for these athletes to be uneducated,” he added.

Bets from athletics are the first to express interest of availing themselves of the “priority athletes” program.

“We’re clarifying with them if they are indeed willing to go full-time, stay in Baguio City permanently for training because we know some of them are coaching in schools,” the PSC chair said.

Meanwhile, Garcia and Manila International Airport Authority general manager Angel Miguel Honrado signed a memorandum of agreement on the “Passenger Service Charge” of sports delegations as provided by RA 6847.

“We want to make sure that only legitimate delegates, duly recognized by the NSAs (National Sports Associations), will be granted travel tax exemptions because there are instances in the past wherein even maids and chaperons of athletes are applying for exemptions. We have to strictly implement the MIAA’s rules on this,” said Garcia.