INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines ? The Philippine Olympic Committee made a final desperate plea Thursday for the Philippine Sports Commission to shoulder the expenses of the entire 386-man RP delegation to the Southeast Asian Games in Laos this December.

POC deputy secretary general Mark Joseph said the appeal focused on the PSC?s funding of the additional 98 athletes and 88 support staff and officials the Olympic body submitted to the Laos SEAG Organizing Committee on Wednesday.

?We have asked the PSC to fund all the members of the Philippine team, based on the selections made by each NSA (national sports association) in accordance with the POC?s criteria,? said Joseph.

The PSC had earlier committed to bankroll the participation of only 153 athletes and 47 officials in the Dec. 9 to 18 Games based on the criteria of gold and silver medal performances in the 2007 Thailand Games.

But the POC jacked up the list with 186 more athletes and officials and promised to raise funds from the private sector to finance their participation.

In Tuesday?s PSA Forum, POC spokesperson Joey Romasanta declared that the local Olympic body had raised 75 percent of the estimated P5.64 million needed to fund the extra SEAG entries.

?The PSC is there to fund our programs, including international competitions,? said Joseph, also the president of the Philippine Aquatic Sports Association. ?Let it deny funding if they want, but they should have good reasons.?

PSC chair Harry Angping remained firm, however, on the agency?s decision to shoulder the participation expenses of only those who qualified based on the standards formulated by the PSC and RP chef de mission Mario Tanchangco.

The breakdown of the 251 athletes are as follows:

Swimming (16), water polo (13), diving (5), archery (9), athletics (20), badminton (5), beach volleyball (8), billiards (15), boxing (10), golf (7), judo (11), karatedo (10), muay (7), pencak silat (11), petanque (11), sepak takraw (14), shooting (11), table tennis (7), taekwondo (16), tennis (8), weightlifting (8), wrestling (11), wushu (9), cycling (13).