BEIJING, China—The officials of underperforming national sports associations, not the athletes, should accept the blame over the country’s latest Olympiad debacle, according to the head of the government agency that funds the athletes’ training.

And the win-win solution, according to William “Butch” Ramirez, chair of the Philippine Sports Commission, is for everyone to step down—including himself—and give way to the best dynamic minds in local sports.

“We are fed up with the phrase ‘We’re going back to the drawing board,’ it does not solve anything,” Ramirez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an interview. “Many NSA heads always say this whenever their athletes fail in international competitions.”

The PSC chief said the Beijing Olympics helped highlight the ineptness of the training and talent development programs of some NSAs back home.

The sports agency finds the money to fund the training and participation in overseas competitions of elite national athletes, but it is the NSAs and the Philippine Olympic Committee that set the training programs, strategies and venues.

Ramirez said it is imperative that the PSC expect good results from the NSAs and the POC in international competitions because government money is involved in the equation.

“I am taking responsibility for the failure of our athletes at the Beijing Olympics,” he said. “I am not running away from responsibility. I am accountable to the government and to Congress for the underperformance of local sports.

“Sports leaders who also feel that their athletes did not do well in the international arena, not only in the Olympics, should know that they are accountable to the nation. Para sa bayan, sabay-sabay na lang kami umalis (For the country’s sake, we should go together).”

Boxing, athletics, archery, weightlifting, shooting, taekwondo and aquatics were the only NSAs that managed to qualify athletes to the Olympiad. Not one of the 15 Filipino bets, however, progressed past the first or qualification rounds of their respective events.

The biggest duds were the country’s strongest hopes for a medal—light flyweight boxer Harry Tañamor and taekwondo-jins Mary Antoinette Rivero (-67 kg class) and Tshomlee Go (-58 kg)—who all fell in their maiden matches.

Three nationals—long jumpers Henry Dagmil and Marestella Torres and female lifter Hidilyn Diaz—got into the Olympics only because they were either the country’s mandatory representatives or were invited to compete.