Reexamine PE teaching first–Juico

THE COUNTRY’S top sports officials should first look into how physical education (PE) is being taught in schools before they sit down to create a master plan for sports, former Philippine Sports Commission Chair Philip Ella Juico said Monday.

Juico, the current track and field association president, crafted the initial master plan during the Ramos administration geared toward the formation of the Philippine National Institute for Sports (Philsports) two decades ago.

But the project failed to take off after the approval process was overtaken by the 1998 national elections and a new administration.

“The first in our list of priorities is to reexamine our physical education system,” said Juico.

He pointed out that PE has been falsely used by giving more attention to talented athletes while disregarding the majority.

“Our people are our biggest resource,” said Juico, who will present the master plan that he made in a top-level consultative meeting of top sports officials and stakeholders on Sept. 1 and 2

“PE is mistakenly used by isolating the talented for special attention while neglecting the majority who will have less incentive to commit to a healthy lifestyle in the future because of a bad beginning in school or in the community, in the case of out-of-school youth,” Juico added.

PSC Chair William Ramirez has tapped the expertise of Juico along with several sports administration figures, both from the private and public sectors, including former PSC Chair Aparecio Mequi and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr.