MANILA -- The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) will launch this year an all-new Philippine National Games (PNG) that will stake P5 million to the overall champion delegation and strengthen participation of mayors and governors.
Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William "Butch" Ramirez, during a strategic planning with Philippine Sports Institute (PSI) regional coordinators at the PhilSports Multi-purpose Arena in Pasig City Thursday, February 16, said the PNG 2017 will enjoin mayors and governors of different local government units (LGUs) to take on active roles in preparing their athletes and coaches for the different qualifying Games.
"We will have the Luzon Games, Visayas Games, and Mindanao Games as qualifying legs then champions will advance to the PNG," he said. The Mindanao Games is set in May while the Visayas Games will be on June 19 to 23 in Iloilo and the PNG will be in Cebu City slated December 4 to 9.
The remaining top four delegations will also receive P4 million, P3 million, P2 million and P1 million, which according to him, can be used for their different grassroots sports programs.
Ramirez also said that since the PNG will be a basis to form the national teams for international competitions like the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, it will then be a challenge for different national sports associations (NSAs) to deny any PNG champion from joining the national team as they would earn the ire of the mayors and the governors.
"Malaking away 'yan (It will be a big fight) with the mayors and governors if di kunin ng NSA ang nag-champion na athletes nila. Now it will not only be the PSC that will fight the NSAs and POC (Philippine Olympic Committee) for the athletes' welfare kasama narin ang mga mayors and governors," Ramirez said, adding that no grassroots development program will succeed without the support of mayors and governors.
He cited the fate of poor athletes and coaches who were removed from the national teams by their respective NSAs without due process.
"Other countries are recruiting (athletes), sa atin tinatapon natin," the PSC chief said, his frustration showing on NSAs that continue to bully athletes instead of loving them.
Thus, he shared telling the POC that PSC will support them until the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but on the premise of "mahalin ang atleta at coaches, ayusin ang mga away at mga unliquidated and unify sports". Otherwise, PSC will withdraw its funding and will instead pour its budget to grassroots sports programs through the PSI.
Ramirez said, "Enough is enough."
Tabal's case
It can be recalled that first Filipina Olympic marathoner Mary Joy Tabal of Cebu City went through the eye of a needle to be reinstated by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa) into the national team after she qualified, on her own, to the Rio Olympics last year. But shortly after the quadriennial games, she was dropped from the national team.
Tabal recently paid Ramirez a courtesy visit at his office in Manila with Cebu-based PSC Commissioner Ramon Fernandez. Ramirez assured the 27-year-old Tabal that PSC will take care of the issues hounding her reinstatement to the national team, advising her to focus on her training instead.
Fernandez said he had a phone conversation with Patafa president Philip Ella Juico on Tabal's situation, even daring the latter to name anybody else that Patafa had currently produced who is better than Tabal.
"Wala man siya katubag. Murag duna rajud prejudice sa provincial athletes or they just want them to train in Manila and handle them for sponsorships. I cannot see any other reason. I wonder why they allow the Fil-foreigners like (Eric) Cray to be coached and train abroad and get allowance and not allow Joy (be accorded the same privilege)," Fernandez said, adding that he told Juico that they better talk in person when he returns to Manila.
Tabal, in a Facebook chat, said she was assured of PSC and PSI's support. "Waiting for final confirmation nalang from Patafa kung unsa jud ilang plan for me (I'm just waiting for what Patafa plans for me)."
She also said that she is preparing for the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon in May, a prize from winning the Milo Marathon 2016. Tabal, however, will race in the 21 kilometers in Ottawa and not in the full marathon as it will just be a trial run for her Malaysia Southeast Asian Games stint in August.
