NSAs to attend House hearing banning minors in combat sports

Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) executive board member Pearl Managuelod of muay thai has expressed hope that lawmakers will be convinced not to forbid young athletes from engaging in combat sports.

Managuelod’s muay thai and 12 other national sports associations (NSAs) will gather on Wednesday at the Congressional hearing on House Bill No. 1526, which seeks to ban minors in competitive full-contact sports.

They came up with a position paper enumerating the importance of starting the development of their athletes at a young age and the rules the NSAs impose to make it safe for every competitor.

“The NSAs gave their inputs and I drafted the paper before submitting it to the [House] Committee on Youth and Sports,’’ said Managuelod, the secretary general of the Muaythai Association of the Philippines.

The proposal to forbid minors in contact sports came when 16-year-old Jonas Garcia, a fourth-year high school student from Bulacan province, died after days in a coma following his boxing bout in the 2013 Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association qualifier for the Palarong Pambansa.

The bill seeks to ban athletes under the age of 18 with penalties set to be slapped against parents, guardians, sports associations, organizations, event organizers and schools, if found guilty.

First-time offenders will be penalized P50,000, P100,000 for a second offense and/or revocation of business permit, and P200,000 and/or closure of the establishment for the third offense.

Ako Bicol representatives Alfredo Garbin Jr. and Elizaldy Co filed HB 1526, or An Act Banning Minors from Full-Contact Competitive Sports.

Chaired by Manila Rep. John Marvin “Yul Servo” Nieto, the Committee on Youth and Sports Development has scheduled the first reading of the bill on Wednesday.

Representatives from the Philippine Sports Commission, POC, Department of Education, Department of Health, National Academy of Sports and Coordinating Council of Private Educational Associations of the Philippines have been invited to the hearing.

“We compliment the vigilance and dutifulness of our honorable congressmen. However, the combat sports NSAs strongly oppose prohibiting minors from participating in combat sport competitions,’’ said the joint position paper of the 13 NSAs, which includes Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, head of the country’s arnis federation.

Also attaching their signatures to the joint position paper were NSA leaders Richard Lim of karate, Dave Carter of judo, Wharton Chan of kickboxing, sambo’s Paulo Claudio, Ferdinand Agustin of jiujitsu, Raul Samson of taekwondo, boxing’s Ed Picson, Richard Gomez of fencing, wushu’s Julian Camacho, wrestling’s Alvin Aguilar and Princess Jacel Kiram of pencak silat. INQ