Two-day sports summit to tackle wider athletes base

MANILA, Philippines — After a debacle, it’s either a revamp or sports summit that comes next.

This time, focus will be on the sports summit which the Philippine Sports Commission will host starting Thursday and Friday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium and comes two months after the country’s worst campaign in the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa is expected to grace the event in behalf of President Aquino, who had ordered sports leaders to prioritize the PSC’s limited resources only for sports with strong potential in international competitions.

PSC chair Richie Garcia said the summit will try to find ways to “widen the base of athletes” and discover new and younger talents. Also in the agenda is the plan to establish regional training centers to “decentralize” sports development.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., said the summit will also tackle the partnership between private corporations and government in promoting sports..

Invited during the two-day affair are Department of Interior and Local Government Sec. Jesse Robredo, Education Sec. Armin Luistro, LGU officials, sports coordinators and representatives from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Garcia will present the PSC policy directions in partnership with the LGUs regarding its grassroots program, the Sports-for-All program and the establishment of a 2012 calendar with synchronized sports events throughout the year.

Luistro will focus on the 2012 Palarong Pambansa which the DepEd annually stages and will be held this summer in Pangasinan.