With board nearly complete, Bachmann’s PSC ready for action

Dickie Bachmann  –INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

With just one commissioner’s seat vacant, the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) board is ready to exercise its mandate of serving the needs of Filipino athletes in the national team.

Newly-appointed PSC Chair Richard “Dickie’’ Bachmann is scheduled to take his oath in Malacañang on Wednesday morning before visiting the PSC offices at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila to officially sit down as the main man of President Marcos for sports.

PSC Commissioners Edward Hayco and Walter Torres took their oath before Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin on Dec. 28, joining PSC Commissioner Olivia “Bong’’ Coo on board under the leadership of Bachmann.

With the PSC board already constituting a quorum, the agency can now go about its usual business of helping the national sports associations and their athletes fund the necessary foreign trips and overseas competitions to sustain the nation’s continuing success in international sports.

Bachmann, who replaced Jose Emmanuel “Noli’’ Eala as PSC chief, is also scheduled to sit down on Wednesday with his board and chart the course of the nation’s sports program over the next five years and a half.

Prior to Bachmann’s appointment, the PSC couldn’t fully disburse the funding needed by the national athletes for training and competition for almost five months since the agency is prohibited from doing so with only Eala and Coo on the board.

“My heart is for grassroots program, nothing more, nothing less. I saw that the lives of the underprivileged change once they get into sports through free sports training,’’ said Hayco, who served as chair of the Cebu City Sports Commission for 12 years.

The new PSC board will likewise deal with over a thousand national athletes from at least 70 sports and their leaders apart from forming a harmonious relationship with the Philippine Olympic Committee.

“We are at the PSC and together we will experience profound joy while serving the deep hunger of our athletes. And because of that, we hope to elevate Philippine sports,’’ said Torres, a former national fencer who represented the country in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. INQ