PSC chief wants to revive negotiations for Clark training facility
Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ RICHARD REYES
THE PHILIPPINE Sports Commission (PSC) wants to rekindle the flame of a snuffed out negotiations that could give rise to a P2-billion training center in Clark Field, Pampanga.
PSC Chair Richie Garcia said yesterday he wants to sit down again with the top brass of the Clark International Airport Corporation to reopen talks on the proposed 50-hectare sports facility inside the former US air base.
ìIíll write the (CIAC) board and ask for reconsideration. Iím sure we could come up with a win-win solution,î said Garcia after the transaction that could provide a new training ground for the national athletes bogged down.
The CIAC, headed by president and CEO Emigdio P. Tanjuatco III, had required the PSC to pay a rental of P150,000 per hectare every year, an amount Garcia found too stiff for the government sports agency to subsidize.
ìThe rental is too high. I told them that weíre not going to run a business. The facility will be designed exclusively for the training of athletes,î said Garcia.
The PSC chief explained the area would experience lateral economic growth since over a thousand athletes, coaches and administrative staff would settle in Clark.
ìWe have 800 athletes. They will eat there and buy their needs, giving local businesses more income,î said Garcia. ìIt will also create jobs since the hiring of the janitorial, security and some of the administrative staff will come from the area.íí
Pampangaís Rep. Yeng Guiao spearheads a bill in the House of Representatives for the construction of a new training center while Sen. Sonny Angara also authored a similar measure in the Senate.
ìI think weíll get it one way or another because itís either we take the offer of Tanauan or go ahead with the negotiations in Clark,î said Garcia.
Another venue
He said a 15-hectare property in Tanauan, Batangas, was also offered as a possible site of the training center.
Once CIAC agrees, Garcia said they would immediately push through with the ground-breaking next month and commence construction.
The PSC has earmarked P100 million as seed money for the training center where most of the 50 sports under the Philippine Olympic Committee would be housed.
Based on studies made by the PSC, the entire complex would be completed in six months using prefabricated materials for the structures and by hiring multiple contractors.
