THE country’s two top sports leaders yesterday unanimously agreed that it would take a lot of support, including finances, to sustain the gold-laden gains of the country’s most successful Olympic campaign in the recently-concluded Tokyo Summer Games.
While Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Butch Ramirez wanted a similar budget of P1.7 billion approved by Congress in 2021 to keep the Olympic momentum going, Philippine Olympic Committee President Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino stressed that more is needed to make that a reality.
Ramirez and Tolentino shared their sentiments during the Philippine Sportswriters Association online forum that also featured Tokyo Games gold medalist Hidylin Diaz, silver medalists Nesthy Petecio and Carlo Paalam and bronze medalist Eumir Felix Marcial.
“We will ask Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate, to duplicate the P1.7 billion that we asked for the last time for the Olympics and the Vietnam Southeast Asian Games, which, thank God, we got,” said Ramirez.
“We need this amount to sustain our Olympic momentum, if not don’t expect our athletes to compete in high-level competitions or high-level training,” added Ramirez.
The Philippines won four medals in Tokyo, the country’s best performance ever in the quadrennial global sports festival.
Tolentino, a Tagaytay congressman and House Deputy Speaker, said a bigger amount is needed since the Hangzhou Asian Games will also be held next year while the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games is scheduled in February 2023.
“Palagay ko dapat madagdagan pa because we will have the Asian Games in China next year while Cambodia will host the SEA Games in February 2023, so these expenses should be included in the PSC allotment in the 2022 national budget,” Tolentino said.
“The P1.7 billion might not be enough for both the Asian Games and the Cambodia SEA Games,” he said in the public sports program supported by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., San Miguel Corp, Milo, Amelie Hotel and Braska Restaurant.
The government sports agency has had to look to Congress for more funds after its regular monthly remittances from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. were drastically reduced due to the closing down and limited operations of casinos due to the pandemic.
The Philippines is the defending SEA Games overall champion after it garnered 149 gold, 117 silver and 121 bronze medals in the 30th edition the country hosted two years ago, and Tolentino is pressing for the formation of a national squad that can remain competitive the next regional meet.
The two agreed that the country needs to come up with a template or playbook to boost the chances of national athletes returning not only for the 2024 Paris Olympics but also for other international events.
They said all the 19 Tokyo Olympians should continue getting support in qualifying for Paris while the 100 or so other athletes who fell short but went through the Olympic qualifying process must also be included in the mixof new Olympic hopefuls anew.
Ramirez said the template should includeproviding athletes with “cutting-edge” technologies in sports science, similar to what athletes from other countries go through.
“Tama si Chairman Butch, we need a template after what we have experienced in Tokyo,” said Tolentino, who added he is scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding with Qatar so that Filipino athletes can be evaluated and assessed at its modern high-performance center.
“This will be a sort of exchange program where our athletes can go there to be evaluated. We just wanted to finish the Olympics but will work on that agreement soon,” Tolentino said.
