PSC sticks to Asiad kitty

MANILA, Philippines–The Philippine Sports Commission will stick to its P30-million budget for the Asian Games. This was the reaction of PSC chair Richie Garcia after the Asian Games Task Force increased by 50 percent the number of athletes set to compete in the Guangzhou Asiad on Nov. 12 to 27. The task force, headed by RP chef de mission Joey Romasanta, initially submitted a list of 160 athletes to the PSC.  The roster, however, grew to 240 after several national sports associations lobbied for the inclusion of more athletes. “I want to make it clear that the PSC budget will not go beyond P30-million,” said Garcia. He said he will make sure that, when it implements cost-cutting measures to cut the size of the RP delegation, athletes will not be affected. He said the agency would first take out from the list team managers and officials before removing some of the coaches. “We have a priority list on how to spend the budget,” said Garcia. “Team managers, (PSC and POC) officials and the support group are the first to go.”

The PSC also spent P30 million on the participation of 233 athletes in the 2006 Doha Asiad but Garcia, who was then a commissioner, explained that food and accommodations during the Games were provided free by the organizers. “Since these things were free of charge, the PSC only spent for the plane tickets of the delegation,” said Garcia. “It will not be the case in Guangzhou. There will be no more freebies.” The PSC expects to spend $50 daily for each member of the delegation to cover food and accommodation in Guangzhou. The total number of officials, coaches, trainers and the support group (secretariat and medical team) is usually half of the delegation.