Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chair Butch Ramirez, although not naming names, reminded all national athletes—especially those training for the Tokyo Olympics—that their character is more important than whatever medal it is they win.
He made an appeal that athletes look back at “every centavo spent by the government [for them]” during the radio program PSC Hour on Friday as he also took a jab at private sponsors whom he said didn’t mind getting the credit for the athletes’ achievements.
“There was a time these athletes were young and untested and only the PSC believed in them and supported them financially and otherwise,” Ramirez said.
His statement came days after Olympic boxer Eumir Felix Marcial quietly slipped into Zamboanga City from Los Angeles, where the middleweight gold prospect went to last year to start his pro career and also to crank up his Olympic training under the same team that handles Manny Pacquiao.
That was while the national boxing team—built by the Alliance of Boxing Association of the Philippines and bankrolled by the PSC—was training in Bangkok after weeks of bubble training here in Laguna province.
“This is something that [has bugged] me for years, but something is not right with the approach [in] government partnership with private sponsors,” said the PSC chief.
He cited the media blitz for Rio Olympics silver winner Hidilyn Diaz.
“This is Hidilyn’s fourth Olympics, and she won [a silver medal] only in one of them,” said Ramirez. “The rest of the way, it’s the PSC which [has] supported her. But we don’t get included in press releases.”