Allowances of athletes on chopping block–PSC
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Sports Commission will soon cut the allowances of certain athletes whose national sports associations have failed to settle their financial obligations with the sports funding agency.
PSC chair Richie Garcia Thursday painted this bleak picture after the government agency was ordered to turn down future financial requests from NSAs with unliquidated expenses.
Without naming them, Garcia said that 30 or so associations have yet to liquidate the financial assistance they received from the PSC for the past three years amounting to P50 million.
“We already told the NSAs that they have to liquidate and this is something that cannot be negotiated,” said Garcia.
“I can’t understand why they’re finding it difficult to liquidate. All they need to do is provide receipts. Sadly, some NSAs just ignore it.”
The PSC chief said the agency has no recourse but to stop the financial assistance to the erring NSAs, a move that would ultimately affect the training of their athletes.
“It’s not the fault of the athletes but they will start feeling the pain when they don’t get their allowances soon,” said Garcia.
He added it would affect the training of athletes bound for the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, from Sept. 19 to Oct. 4.
The Commission on Audit earlier asked the PSC to settle the P50 million released to the NSAs. The agency, in turn, has enforced a zero-obligation policy so that the PSC can continue providing financial assistance to NSAs.
“It has put the PSC in a bad light,” said Garcia. “We’ll be criticized if we don’t support the athletes. On the other hand, we’ll be sued if we don’t follow the COA directive.”
He said the PSC has sought an audience with COA officials to iron things out.
