Unliquidated NSA advances boost 2014 PSC budget

THE PHILIPPINE Sports Commission will have an operating budget of P214 million for 2014 to cover the maintenance of facilities, infrastructure and day-to-day expenses of the government sports agency.

The budget is slightly bigger than the P207 million earmarked by the Department of Budget and Management from the General Appropriations Act this year.

PSC chair Richie Garcia said the agency’s P300-million savings will be spent for a major facelift of several facilities inside the sprawling Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila, among them the tennis courts, wushu gym, basketball court, and the football and baseball stadiums.

Also to be rehabilitated are the track oval, dormitories and cafeteria. Gym equipment at Philsports Complex in Pasig will be upgraded.

Garcia said the savings came from the unspent portion of the PSC’s annual budget for the national sports associations which failed to liquidate their advances with the agency.

“We saved money because the rest of the budget for NSAs could not be released to them. They need to liquidate their expenditures for previous projects first,” said Garcia.

The budget of the NSAs and for the training of athletes come from the national sports development fund (NSDF), which is sourced from monthly remittances from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

The PSC receives an average of P500 million a year from Pagcor.

Garcia thanked Sen. Franklin Drilon for allocating P10 million of his priority development assistance fund (PDAF) to the renovation of the track oval, as well as Sen. Pia Cayetano for setting aside P10 million from her fund for the improvement of the oval’s grandstand.