DESPITE the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Philippine Sports Commission chairman Butch Ramirez yesterday expressed confidence the PSC is ready to meet the needs of national athletes seeking to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in July and those competing in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games in November.
“We are ready. We have the budget,” Ramirez stressed during an online press conference as he clarified some of the issues concerning the sports agency since the country went on lockdown in mid-March last year due to the deadly virus.
Although President Duterte turned down the PSC budget of over P1 billion approved by Congress, Ramirez said they were still given P700 million by the Department of Budget Management, which include funding for the athletes campaigning for the Tokyo Games and the Vietnam Games.
“The DBM has already released partially this amount, including P200 million for the country’s participation and training for the SEA Games,” said Ramirez, who also disclosed that he had received the first jab of the Sinovac vaccine.
Ramirez was joined in the press briefing by Philippine Sports Institute director Marc Velasco, who also serves as the PSC national training director; and acting PSC Executive Director Guillermo Iroy Jr.
Asked if the country could expect a golden finish in the Tokyo Olympics, Ramirez said it would be hard to predict how the athletes would perform.
“I would not like to predict since anything can happen in Tokyo but I believe our present qualifiers are all medal contenders,” Ramirez said, referring to weightlifter Hidylin Diaz, pole vaulter Ernest John Obiena, boxer Felix Eumir Marcial and gymnast Carlos Edriel Yulo.
“Hidylin has the experience and this will be her fourth straight Olympics so knows what she needs to do in Tokyo,” added Ramirez, the national team chief of mission when Diaz made her Olympic debut as a wild card entry in the 2008 Beijing edition.
He also lauded the initiative of Commissioner Ramon Fernandez, the national team chief of mission to the Vietnam SEA Games, involving local government units so that national athletes could resume workouts in bubbles outside Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces.
“It is a laudable project by Fernandez but it really needs the cooperation of the local government officials involved plus the approval of the Inter-Agency Task Force in charge of the pandemic,” he said.
