Flooded RMSC unfit for Philippine bets–Garcia

Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia yesterday reiterated the need for the national athletes to move out of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex (RMSC) which sustained major damage following heavy monsoon rains early this week.

The 80-year-old RMSC, which was recently at the center of debate among top sports officials who batted for its sale in favor of building a modern facility outside of the metropolis, had been under floodwaters the past three days.

The hardest-hit were the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, Rizal Memorial Coliseum and gymnastics hall whose flooring came off and would need renovation  in order to be fit for athletes who are training and residing in the eight-hectare complex.

“This is one of the reasons why we want to move out of Rizal,” said Garcia. He said he had ordered technical people to survey the damage although he feared it’s going to be extensive.

Garcia had earlier bared plans to refurbish  the facilities this year using the agency’s savings amounting to hundreds of millions of pesos.

PSC executive director Guillermo Iroy said there are no damage at PhilSports which combined with RMSC in housing close to a thousand members of Team Philippines. He said everybody was accounted for.

Iroy also reported that the media center beside Rizal Coliseum was also damaged due to flood.

The RMSC gets  easily flooded, especially the coliseum which needs a water pump to drain the waters off its multi-purpose court.