Strength in numbers won’t be a rallying cry for the Philippine athletic contingent to the Kuala Lumpur Southeast Asian Games this August.
Philippine Sports Commission Chair William Ramirez says that after a mosaic of judgements, a joint PSC-Philippine Olympic Committee task force could arrive at 350 athletes out of an initial group of 650 who figure to have the best chances of being included in the PH delegation.
Ramirez says add a complement of 50 “legitimate and deserving officials and coaches who will perform specific tasks” and the winnowing team would be on target for a final list.
The PSC honcho has made it abundantly clear, however, that it won’t matter to him whether the delegation is puny or an army, provided the one factor he has in mind—competence—mattered the most in the selection process. He has reiterated that only athletes with chances to medal in the Games would earn a ticket to Malaysia.
Ramirez told me via e-mail that his agency is willing to invest in foreign exposure related to PH participation in the SEA Games, the Asian Games and the Olympics and anchored on a “travel with a goal” contract between athletes and the PSC. He did not elaborate.
Girding for war with the POC has not been in Ramirez’s agenda since President Duterte returned to a position he held in 2005.
But in the latest sign of the ideological battle that may play out between him and POC president Jose Peping Cojuangco—reelected lamentably to a record fourth four-year term recently—Ramirez has vowed to take an active hand not only in the funding, but in the preparation of athletes for international competitions.
Ramirez said his agency will not only spend for athletes with medal potentials on the world stage, but will also monitor their progress.
Honing athletes for international exposure, including the lowly SEA Games, has been overseen traditionally by the POC, a private entity, and the national sports associations under its umbrella but are funded by the PSC.
Under the administration of President B.S. Aquino, who did not care about sports as a tool for nation building, the PSC under Richie Garcia spent for athletes on the say so of Cojuangco, Aquino’s uncle.
Now the tables have turned, with Ramirez getting the last word on money and effectively shattering the old image that the PSC is a POC twin willing to emphasize its sibling’s preferences over their differences.