MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia has urged national sports Associations who flopped in the Southeast Asian Games to find a corporate sponsor or make do with the severely diminished financial assistance from the sports-funding agency.
The Philippines finished sixth overall among 11 countries in the recent 26th SEA Games in Indonesia with a paltry output of 36 gold, 56 silver and 77 bronze medals.
“We’re going to tell them that it’s about time to look for corporate or private sponsors,” said Garcia. “The government cannot sustain and maintain these NSAs if they couldn’t show any (medal),” he added.
Several sports failed to live up to expectations and a handful even went home empty-handed, among them aquatics, football, volleyball, gymnastics, badminton, petanque, futsal, canoe-kayak and paragliding.
Not a few NSA officials have said that shrinking the allocation from the government would only slow down the programs for the development of their athletes.
“We just have to bite the bullet and prioritize. This is a decision made by the PSC as suggested by the President (Aquino),” said Garcia.
The PSC is set to scrutinize the performance of every NSA next month and deliberate on the amount of financial assistance they should get.
Garcia also warned that NSAs with unliquidated financial advances from the PSC would also be deprived of financial aid.
A total of 58 NSAs have yet to liquidate their advances amounting to P130.6 million.