INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines—The additional athletes included by the Philippine Olympic Committee to the national team for the Southeast Asian Games in Laos should meet the standards set by the Philippine Sports Commission.

PSC chair Harry Angping said the PSC will finance the 60 athletes if they won a gold or silver medal in the 2007 Thailand edition of the biennial meet.

RP chief of mission Mario Tanchangco forwarded an official list of 213 athletes to the Laos organizing committee over the weekend, 60 more than the 153 athletes earlier approved by the PSC and Tanchangco.

“If these athletes are qualified based on the criteria, we will consider and include them in the list,” said Angping Tuesday during the PSA Forum held at Shakey’s UN Avenue.

The POC said it will finance the 60 additional athletes if the PSC will not. According to Tanchangco, the POC will spend P70,000 for each athlete during the Dec. 9 to 18 games.

Whether or not the PSC supports those athletes, Angping said they will still be eligible for bonuses if they bring home medals.

A gold-winning athlete in the SEA Games stands to receive at least P200,000 in bonuses, excluding other perks coming from private entities like Cecilio De Pedro of Lamoiyan Corporation, Tagaytay Highlands, Pacific Online, Discovery Suites and Sterling Bank.

Angping, meanwhile, also belied accusations made by the Wrestling Association of the Philippines that he had reneged on his earlier pledge to support the Asian Junior Championship and misused the P3 million entry fees collected by WAP from the participants of the event.

In fact, Angping said, WAP needs to refund P4.3 million to the PSC for advancing the payment of expenses related to the staging of the event last July.

Angping said he was made to believe by WAP president Albert Balde that the rest of the expenses will be shouldered by the wrestling association. But the WAP “totally abandoned” the obligation, Angping said.

Balde and his group filed a graft case against Angping at the Office of the Ombudsman last Monday.