AIMING to maximize its scarce financial resources, the Philippine Sports Commission has suspended the release of allowances of coaches and athletes in the PSC national pool this month pending the completion of documentary requirements of their respective National Sports Associations by Jan. 29.
PSC acting deputy executive director Reina Preciosa Evangelista issued the advisory to all the concerned NSAs and copy-furnished Philippine Olympic Committee president and Rep. Bambol Tolentino last Jan. 18 following resolutions recently passed by the five-man PSC board led by chairman Butch Ramirez.
Among the papers the NSAs need to furnish the government sports agency were the updated personal profiles of their respective athletes and coaches using the template provided them.
The PSC required the NSAs to attach supporting documents such as certificates, photos, newspaper clippings to back up their achievements, verified and signed by either the NSA president or its secretary general.
The NSAs were also required to submit the profiles with updated photos of the national pool members and copies of their passports, transcript of records, certificates of attendance of local and international competitions and birth certificates, among others.
The advisory stressed that the submission of the completed documents did not warrant “automatic inclusion as member of the national training pool under the PSC payroll. These documents are subject to PSC review and evaluation.”
The PSC also issued new policies and guidelines in the disbursement of financial assistance that accompanied the NSA advisory regarding the payroll of the national pool, reiterating its “no-liquidation-no-financial assistance” policy in the memo.
It required the sports associations to disclose funds it was getting aside from direct financial support from the PSC and “undue delay” in the submission of their respective reportorial requirements.”
Affected by the PSC directive are 993 athletes and 285 coaches in the national pool and 251 para athletes and their 76 coaches.
Ramirez has repeatedly advised the NSAs to maintain their “good housekeeping” since they were bearing the brunt of the Commission on Audit’s hounding for their failure to complete their liquidation on time.
With the remittances from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the PSC’s main source of its National Sports Development Fund, greatly reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency has been forced to crack the whip, particularly on delinquent NSAs.
The NSAs were also prevailed upon to “disclose donations in cash or in kind from the public sector” and partially share in the expenses of the training of their athletes, particularly “the transfer of their equipment from one venue to the other.”
The PSC also discouraged NSAs from making requests for “retroactive effect of the monthly allowances of athlete/coaches” in the national pool.
The PSC also announced that it would not support “any professional sports event which offers prize money, except those that are considered Olympic qualifying events.”
