Change or be changed

During the last election campaign, candidate Rodrigo Duterte promised change will come if he’s voted President.  Now that he’s in Malacanang, it’s evident that change has come.  And so it will come, too, in sports with newly appointed PSC chairman Butch Ramirez taking the Chief Executive’s lead.

At the Sports Summit organized by the PSC last Thursday and Friday, IOC representative to the Philippines Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski quoted IOC president Thomas Bach as saying “change or be changed.” It’s the tenor of the times.  If you can’t keep up with the drift of change, you’ll be left behind.  Countries that aren’t able to progress and evolve will stagnate in sports and other challenges of life.

The PSC has set Oct. 1 as the launch date for the Philippine Sports Institute, an effort long in the planning stage but now, ready for take off with Ramirez’ determined approach.  If money was the problem in moving sports forward before, it won’t be a problem anymore with Senators and Congressmen vowing to make sure the law is followed in requiring PAGCOR and other government agencies to remit the appropriate amounts to the PSC.  If politics was the problem in moving sports forward before, it won’t be a problem anymore with the PSC committing to resolve conflict of interest issues through an arbitration commission made up of resolute retired judges with no agendas.  If integrity was the problem in moving sports forward before, it won’t be a problem anymore as the PSC is out to crack down on crooks, exploiters of athletes and overstaying do-nothing deadwood.

The PSC is working on formulating a six-year program for Philippine sports covering elite athletes, grassroots development and close coordination in promoting sports with the Department of Education and Local Government Units.  Ramirez said if he can’t get the job done, if he can’t set a direction for all to follow, if he can’t exercise the leadership that’s necessary for everyone to be on the same page, he’ll resign out of respect for the President.  If he can’t make change happen, he’ll exit with no hesitation because there’s no excuse for failure with Ramirez enjoying the support, trust and confidence of the President.

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No doubt, a well-crafted blueprint for Philippine sports will be laid out.  The National Training Center will be built.  Key result areas will be identified with strategies in place leading to accomplishment.  But you and I know that no matter how well-defined are the goals, if the people who are supposed to get things done aren’t united, if they’re squabbling, if they’re not honest, if they’re not qualified, if they’re not committed to work selflessly, then nothing will be achieved.

At the moment, there are problems hounding the progress of several sports because of leadership issues at the NSA level. In swimming, athletes are caught in the middle of a turf war between the NSA-recognized Philippine Swimming Inc. of Mark Joseph and the renegade but significantly relevant Philippine Swimming League of Nikki Coseteng.  Talented PSL swimmers are not allowed to participate in tryouts for the POC-sanctioned national team because they’re on the “wrong” side of the fence.  But why are athletes being disenfranchised because their leaders can’t get along?  Why is the country made to suffer because leaders don’t know how to compromise and swallow their pride?

In taekwondo, accusations of favoritism in choosing athletes to represent the country in overseas competitions are rampant. Because there are thousands of practitioners in different age-groups all over the nation, it’s easy for a coach to deliberately overlook a deserving achiever to choose a less deserving athlete who is personally situated.  A coach who has a personal interest in a school team or a gym will pick athletes “close to home” even if they’re not as qualified as others “far from home.”

Another case to settle involves the Olympics and the World University Games.  The POC has the sole authority to accredit athletes for the Olympics, Asian Games, Southeast Asian Games and competitions organized by IOC-sanctioned international federations.  FESSAP or the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines accredits athletes for the World University Games or Universiade.  The POC is tied up to the IOC while FESSAP to FISU or the International University Sports Federation.  The Olympics are held once in four years and is the world’s largest sporting event.  The World University Games are held once in two years and is the world’s second largest sporting event.

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The POC has nothing to do with FESSAP.  Since the country’s NSAs are linked to the POC, FESSAP sources athletes from organizations not recognized by the POC like the PSL and the SBP’s precursor Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) which, believe it or not, still exists.  There is speculation that because FESSAP is largely on its own, it is engaged in shenanigans like human trafficking but nobody has been able to prove any wrongdoing.  When Wesley So represented the Philippines in chess at the 2013 Universiade in Russia, he won the gold medal.  Because he participated without NSA sanction, So was stripped of national recognition and now, he represents the US as one of the world’s top 10 players.  How could any sports official in his right mind allow a national treasure like So to slip away?

FESSAP isn’t accountable to the POC or the PSC. At the 2013 Universiade, it sent the University of Visayas basketball team because UAAP champion Ateneo wouldn’t go without POC or NSA sanction.  The FESSAP team was massacred by losing margin of over 50 points, bowing to Romania, 106-58, Serbia, 125-44, Japan, 93-51, Mongolia, 92-79 and Mexico, 139-67.  Worse, the Philippines walked out of the tournament and forfeited its classification games against Ukraine, Chile and Oman.  The team finished No. 24 of 24.  Who was the team accountable to?  Were there sanctions slapped for the walkout?  This was an embarrassment to the country but if FESSAP is allowed to just do as it pleases, where is the check and balance?

With Ramirez’ leadership, the PSC should be able to step in and resolve long pending conflict of interest issues for the athletes’ sake.  The rows involving swimming, the Universiade and other cases of disunity, lack of integrity and unqualified officials must be settled because if not, they’ll drag down whatever progress the country hopes to achieve in sports.