The 10 national sports associations chosen by the Philippine Sports Commission under its prioritization scheme three months ago have yet to take advantage of their special privileges.
PSC chair Richie Garcia yesterday expressed dismay over the slow implementation of the program granting 10 focus sports and 145 priority athletes a huge chunk of government sports funds so that they could win more medals in international competitions.
Garcia said the NSAs and the athletes only needed to fulfill certain requirements so that the prioritization project could start.
The 10 focus sports are boxing, taekwondo, athletics, swimming, wushu, archery, wrestling, bowling, weightlifting and billiards.
“It’s really sad because they were already informed as to what they should do,” said Garcia. “Up to now, there has been no movement from the NSAs in the priority list.”
The PSC initially allocated P108 million for the focus sports with boxing, taekwondo, athletics, swimming and wushu getting at least P12 million each. The 145 athletes, all medalists in the Southeast Asian Games, could receive up to P40,000 in monthly allowances.
“They’re (NSAs) probably thinking that the competitions are still months or a year away,” said Garcia. “There will come a time when we will announce that the PSC will only concentrate on youth development and forget the whole thing on prioritization.”