THE Philippines Sports Commission is shelving plans to build the Philippine Sports Training Center in Bagac, Bataan and is now studying offers from seven local government units as the site of the P3.5-billion facility, according to PSC chairman Richard Bachmann.
“Majority of the National Sports Associations we have talked to are not inclined to train their national athletes in Bataan because of the distance from Metro Manila so we are looking at other options,” Bachmann said in a press conference last week where he announced the PSC’s policies and programs, a result of several strategic planning sessions the previous months.
He said at least seven LGUs have indicated their interest in having the PSTC built in their area “but we cannot divulge their identities as of now.”
The building of the PSTC is based on Republic Act 11214, also known as the Philippine Sports Training Center Act, which had former Sen. Manny Pacquiao and current Sen. Sonny Angara as co-authors.
It was passed into law by former President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 14, 2019 with an allotment of P3.5 billion for its construction that would be funded through the General Appropriations Act or national budget.
Under the Memorandum of Agreement signed by former PSC chairman Butch Ramirez and former Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia, the PSTC is supposed to be built on a 25-hectare property donated by the Bataan provincial government in the town of Bagac.
Philippine Olympic Committee president and Tagaytay Mayor Bambol Tolentino said the POC was not consulted when this agreement was made while the NSAs were lukewarm to the plan.
The huge outlay for the PSTC has prompted Bachmann to submit a proposed P4.4 billion for the PSC under the GAA of 2024, whose deliberations and hearings in Congress are scheduled in October.
Expected to join Bachmann in the hearings is newly-appointed executive director Paolo Francisco Tatad, son of former Press Secretary and Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad, who joined the government sports agency just last week.
Bachmann said he is asking the budget for 2024 from Congress not only for the construction of the PSTC “so we can start repairing and renovating our facilities, which I promised to do once we were appointed.”
Bachmann said he has begun lobbying lawmakers to secure the passage of the PSC budget for next year so that some of the facilities of the PSC that sorely needs fixing would be immediately addressed.
In the same briefing, he announced several institutional programs which will fall directly under the management of his office.
These are “Women in Sports,” “Indigenous Peoples Games, “Corporate Social Responsibility in Sports,” “Para Sports,” “Laro’t Saya sa Parke,” “Batang Pinoy,” “Philippine National Games,” “Philippine Sports Institute,” “PSTC,” and “Regional Training Center.”
He also announced the assignments of commissioners Bong Coo, Ed Hayco, Fritz Gason and Walter Torres.
Among others, Coo will oversee Women in Sports as well as the South Luzon Area training center, Gaston the Indigenous Peoples Games and North Luzon Area training center, Hayco the Social Responsibility in Sports and Visayas training center, and Torres for Para Sports and Mindanao training center.
