THE past year has been one of observation, evaluation and appreciation for Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richard Bachmann, who took over as the 12th head of the government sports agency on Jan. 4, 2023.
With slightly over a year’s experience under his belt as the newest head of the PSC, Bachmann already has a clearer picture of where he wants to go in his remaining five years.
Celebrating his 54th birthday last Jan. 11, the former corporate executive and team manager of the defunct Alaska Aces revealed some of the birthday wishes for the PSC during his watch.
“Among my foremost wishes is that we can fix our facilities or make them better for our athletes. That remains among my top priorities,” said Bachmann during a break with his commissioners as they charted the PSC’s plans and programs for the year.
He quickly realized this would be a big challenge after Congress approved a measly budget of P500 million for the PSC in the General Appropriations Act for 2024 when he had originally requested an allotment of P3.7 billion.
“I am glad that Congress and the Senate were able to approve our budget, pero kulang pa rin since we had asked for P3.7 billion to cover our capital outlay,” said Bachmann. “It is not enough but it is a good jumpstart to fix our present facilities.”
“We are now servicing and supporting over 70 National Sports Associations as compared to what we had to support before,” noted Bachmann of the many “mouths” he has to feed from the limited budget, a bulk of which comes from the National Sports Development Fund through PAGCOR’s monthly remittances.
He said he has had initial talks with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. led by chairman Alejandro Tengco “and they have been receptive in bridging the gap (in funding) to fix our sports infrastructure.”
Given that it is an Olympic year, Bachmann said he would also ask for a separate budget from PAGCOR to support the athletes who have qualified and seeking to qualify for the Paris Summer Games in July.
Along this line, he has asked for the cooperation of the Philippine Olympic Committee headed by POC president and Tagaytay City Mayor Bambol Tolentino in forming a joint Task Force that would serve the needs of the Olympic qualifiers and hopefuls gunning for slots in the Paris Summer Games.
This closer cooperation between the two major bodies overseeing the progress and development of local sports in general was also among his birthday wishes, according to Bachmann.
He was able to see and observe the dynamics between the two organizations in a hectic 2024 as Pinoy campaigners saw action in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games and 19th Hangzhou Asian Games just a few months apart.
This was also true in the country’s staging of the highly successful FIBA World Cup, of which the PSC gave P1 billion, although some sources said it was probably more.
For the record, Bachmann had to give up being in charge of the operations of the global basketball spectacle after he was appointed by Malacanang as the new PSC chairman vice Noli Eala in early 2023.
He also witnessed first-hand how the national para athletes performed during the 12th Cambodia Asean Para Games and the 4th Hangzhou Asian Para Games and achieved a milestone in the latter meet with an all-time high of ninth overall after garnering 10 gold, four silver and five gold medals.
Among the top PSC official’s decisions was to appoint Commissioners Bong Coo, Fritz Gaston, Ed Hayco, and Walter Torres as regional sports coordinators for Southern Luzon, Northern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, respectively.
All four commissioners were also assigned NSAs to oversee, including the monitoring, supporting and training of their respective athletes while making some changes within the PSC to make it more efficient in addressing the needs of the NSAs, athletes and coaches in its fold.
Similar to what was done during his time with Alaska, one of Bachmann’s decisions was to have the PSC employees buy their meals at reasonable prices inside the PSC mess hall together with the athletes and coaches in the national pool.
Capping a year of frenzied activity for Bachmann and his staff was the simultaneous staging in Metro Manila of the Philippine National Games and Batang Pinoy National Championships last December, drawing 18,000 athletes and close to 2,800 officials from all over the country.
The PSC chairman acknowledged that they bit off more than they could chew in staging the two meets at the same time with a huge number of participants that even dwarfed that of the national Palarong Pambansa.
“It is something that the PSC had not experienced before in having them held at the same time in the same areas,” rued Bachmann, who saw the agency’s shortcomings and strived to address them as best as it could during the sportsfests last month.
the logistical challenges posed by staging both meets together, he said that it wouldn’t happen again, and most likely the Batang Pinoy would revert to its old format of having regional eliminations, with the top athletes advancing to the finals.
A total of 14,000 young athletes saw action in the last Batang Pinoy Nationals.
All the while, Bachmann observed, monitored and evaluated what was going on during the two competitions, particularly how his staff, down to the rank-and-file, coped with the issues at hand; an acid test, in a manner of speaking, for all who were involved in the events.
“Definitely there will be some (personnel) changes there,” forewarned Bachmann of the planned reshuffling of the PSC personnel once his evaluation was complete.
The PSC chief opened 2024 with a strategic move, forging a partnership with the Privates Schools Athletic Association in expanding exponentially the PSC’s grassroots sports development programs through PRISAA’s 400 member schools nationwide.
The collaboration was formalized during the PRISAA National Congress held on Jan. 12 and 13 in Legazpi, Albay.
“I need platforms like the PRISAA to help grow sports. I need platforms like these to have good facilities regionally,” said Bachmann in addressing PRISAA’s representatives from the country’s 17 regions following the signing of the agreement at the UST Macias Hall in the Albay provincial capital.
“I need platforms like these so athletes don’t have to come to Manila to train. Let’s face it, after a month or two they become homesick. So hopefully we can have this as a start and grow for the good of local sports,” said the PSC honcho.
The wisdom of decentralizing the task of nurturing and developing athletes was echoed by Commissioner Hayco, who forged the initiative with the help of PRISAA national executive director Elbert Atilano.
“We will be able to grow a community of sports nationally with this initiative. By a divine design, we are all here for a meaningful purpose. Never were there organizations that took up the challenge of grassroots sports head-on into a national initiative,” Hayco said.
“Today marks a historic first special step that we will all be proud of in producing future Hidylin Diazes,” the commissioner noted.
With one master stroke, Bachmann was able to address not only the manpower and resources needed to achieve a comprehensive grassroots sports development plan nationwide – without the PSC doling out a huge amount.
This empowerment was appreciated by Atilano, who runs a successful grassroots program in Zamboanga City that produced Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Hidylin Diaz-Naranjo, vowing to share his formula with the rest of the PSC’s stakeholders, including other local government units.
This out-of-the-box mentality clearly shows that Bachmann’s apprenticeship as PSC custodian is at an end and that more exciting developments are in store for the PSC in the remaining years of his administration.
