PSC-LGU summit slated

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Sports Commission will hold a summit involving local government units (LGU) in an effort to boost the country’s grassroots program.

“We want to entice more athletes to participate by encouraging the city or municipality where they come from to join the Batang Pinoy,” said PSC commissioner Jolly Gomez.

The idea behind the summit comes from the poor attendance of LGUs in the grassroots-based Batang Pinoy, an Olympic-style event featuring young athletes.

Out of over 1,000 local government units nationwide, only 90 LGUs joined the event, which is the PSC’s flagship grassroots program.

The summit is tentatively slated Jan. 26 and 27 with officials from the education department also expected to attend.

During the Batang Pinoy’s five regional qualifying legs and the national finals in Naga City two weeks ago, several young talents shone, Gomez said.

“But it’s not enough. They’re out there somewhere and we’ll be pushing hard to find these athletes who could make us proud in major international tournaments,” said Gomez.

The PSC hopes to replace an aging pool of athletes who led the country to a sixth-place finish in the Southeast Asian Games. The Philippines brought home 36 gold, 56 silver and 77 bronze medals from Indonesia last month, the country’s lowest output since joining the biennial meet in 1977.