Buhain opposes Dayrit
January 21, 2003 | 12:00am
In a recent letter to President Arroyo, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) president Celso Dayrit said the government spends uselessly on the Palarong Pambansa and Batang Pinoy every year because "they seem to have no clear contribution to our overall sports development program and practically very little effect on our athletes’ performance in international competitions such as the Southeast Asian (SEA), Asian, and Olympic Games."
Dayrit clarified that he isn’t against grassroots development. It’s just that given the meager resources available for sports, he’d rather the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)–which organizes both the Palaro and Batang Pinoy–focus on the training of national athletes as a priority. His proposal is to integrate the Palaro and Batang Pinoy into something he calls the Philippine Youth Games (PYG) to be held once every two years.
The Gintong Alay approach of Michael Keon is what Dayrit said the PSC should adopt as it is clearly directed towards the development of champion athletes.
"The Batang Pinoy and the Palaro have the same objectives," continued Dayrit. "They cater to practically the same ‘developmental’ athletes/clientele. There is no sense in organizing both events separately as they will only diminish in value, confuse the programs of the LGUs (Local Government Units), undermine the academics of the students, and financially burden both the PSC and all the LGUs."
Dayrit said no other country organizes two similar "grassroots" national multi-sports competitions within the same year, every year.
The POC chief also suggested to reactivate the biennial Philippine National Games (PNG), launched during President Ramos’ term, to be held alternately with the PYG.
"The PNG was patterned from a similar program existing in countries with more advanced sports development such as China, Korea and Indonesia," explained Dayrit. "It is a multi-sport national competition where the best athletes represent their respective provinces for national honors.
Provincial governments prepare their athletes in almost the same way we train our national athletes. In the process, more athletes are trained seriously down at the provincial level rather than resort to a mediocre and hush-hush process of selecting half-baked athletes as is the case at present."
Dayrit pointed out that the Palaro and Batang Pinoy are for athletes 18 years old and below with less than half the sports in the usual SEA Games calendar in the schedule.
With the integration of the Palaro and Batang Pinoy, there should be more money available for the development of champion athletes. Dayrit said the time to act is now if the Philippines is to compete for top honors when it hosts the SEA Games in 2005.
"The timing is perfect and critical as we have to consider the impact and strategic contribution of all our activities to the success of the 2005 SEA Games," said Dayrit. "In the scope of our national priorities, we have to systematically link our activities in ‘grassroots sports’ for the success of our efforts in promoting national pride through ‘international sports.’ We are of the belief that the recommendations to restructure our national sports development programs will enhance efficiency of organization, improve productivity in terms of development and excellence building, reduce cost redundancy, and save precious budgetary resources for the additional training of our elite athletes and for our hosting of the 2005 SEA Games."
PSC chairman Eric Buhain, however, disagreed with Dayrit and wrote his own letter to the President.
Buhain defended the yearly staging of the Palaro, arguing that it is neither redundant nor costly.
"The Palaro has been with us for many decades that it has already produced many great athletes who have brought immeasurable honor and pride to the country," said Buhain. "The Palaro has become an effective breeding ground that helped produce the likes of Lydia de Vega, Ral Rosario, Elma Muros, Isidro del Prado and yours truly and many others who competed remarkably in the SEA, Asian, and Olympic Games."
Buhain opposed Dayrit’s suggestion to merge the Palaro and Batang Pinoy.
He denied Dayrit’s claims of duplication and redundancy.
"Although we admit that the Palaro caters to high school students as well as to elementary pupils who are mostly in the higher grade levels, the Batang Pinoy being a developmental program for children is basically an age-group event wherein children as young as three years old including out-of-school youth, are given the chance to compete in a formal national league, giving them early exposure to physical fitness and sports," said Buhain.
The PSC head disclosed that there are plans to open the Palaro only to athletes 13 years old and up and the Batang Pinoy to participants 12 years old and below. In the long term, the PSC intends to convert the Palaro into an age-group competition where participants play according to age levels and transform it into an LGU-based representation.
Buhain also rejected Dayrit’s idea of holding an integrated version of the Palaro and Batang Pinoy once every two years.
"Experiences of other countries such as the US, Australia, China and many other sports powerhouse around the globe instruct us that holding national competitions every year proves to be effective in sustaining their dominance in international sports," Buhain went on. "In the US, for example, they have age-group competitions, junior and YMCA national tournaments being conducted every year. The same with Australia, Cuba, Korea, Russia, Germany, China and other countries who have different levels of age competitions every year."
More on Buhain’s rebuttal and Dayrit’s reactions tomorrow.
Postscript. RPN Channel 9, Samsung and the La Salle Greenhills Class ’75 Foundation are staging the 2nd La Salle Greenhills Fun Run on Jan. 26, starting 6 a.m., at the La Salle Greenhills campus on Ortigas Ave., Mandaluyong. The event is open to the public as well as to all La Salle students, alumni, athletes and faculty. Proceeds of the project will go to the LSGH Class ’75 Foundation’s various outreach programs. For more details, see posters and print ads or call Dr. Teng Banico at 822-7508 or 0919-4769136 ... Our friends Maureen Ferrer and Carissa Sindiong of Emerald Headway, exclusive distributor of over 700 magazine titles such as Maxim, Stuff, Slam, F1 Racing, and Golf Digest, are inviting Star readers to avail of a special "12 months at 12% off" promo. Subscribe now and get 12% off every new one year subscription or renewal. The promo is until Feb. 28 only and covers monthly titles with at least 10 issues a year. For more details, call 647-4744 or 66 or visit the website www.emeraldheadway.com.
Dayrit clarified that he isn’t against grassroots development. It’s just that given the meager resources available for sports, he’d rather the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)–which organizes both the Palaro and Batang Pinoy–focus on the training of national athletes as a priority. His proposal is to integrate the Palaro and Batang Pinoy into something he calls the Philippine Youth Games (PYG) to be held once every two years.
The Gintong Alay approach of Michael Keon is what Dayrit said the PSC should adopt as it is clearly directed towards the development of champion athletes.
"The Batang Pinoy and the Palaro have the same objectives," continued Dayrit. "They cater to practically the same ‘developmental’ athletes/clientele. There is no sense in organizing both events separately as they will only diminish in value, confuse the programs of the LGUs (Local Government Units), undermine the academics of the students, and financially burden both the PSC and all the LGUs."
Dayrit said no other country organizes two similar "grassroots" national multi-sports competitions within the same year, every year.
The POC chief also suggested to reactivate the biennial Philippine National Games (PNG), launched during President Ramos’ term, to be held alternately with the PYG.
"The PNG was patterned from a similar program existing in countries with more advanced sports development such as China, Korea and Indonesia," explained Dayrit. "It is a multi-sport national competition where the best athletes represent their respective provinces for national honors.
Provincial governments prepare their athletes in almost the same way we train our national athletes. In the process, more athletes are trained seriously down at the provincial level rather than resort to a mediocre and hush-hush process of selecting half-baked athletes as is the case at present."
Dayrit pointed out that the Palaro and Batang Pinoy are for athletes 18 years old and below with less than half the sports in the usual SEA Games calendar in the schedule.
With the integration of the Palaro and Batang Pinoy, there should be more money available for the development of champion athletes. Dayrit said the time to act is now if the Philippines is to compete for top honors when it hosts the SEA Games in 2005.
"The timing is perfect and critical as we have to consider the impact and strategic contribution of all our activities to the success of the 2005 SEA Games," said Dayrit. "In the scope of our national priorities, we have to systematically link our activities in ‘grassroots sports’ for the success of our efforts in promoting national pride through ‘international sports.’ We are of the belief that the recommendations to restructure our national sports development programs will enhance efficiency of organization, improve productivity in terms of development and excellence building, reduce cost redundancy, and save precious budgetary resources for the additional training of our elite athletes and for our hosting of the 2005 SEA Games."
PSC chairman Eric Buhain, however, disagreed with Dayrit and wrote his own letter to the President.
Buhain defended the yearly staging of the Palaro, arguing that it is neither redundant nor costly.
"The Palaro has been with us for many decades that it has already produced many great athletes who have brought immeasurable honor and pride to the country," said Buhain. "The Palaro has become an effective breeding ground that helped produce the likes of Lydia de Vega, Ral Rosario, Elma Muros, Isidro del Prado and yours truly and many others who competed remarkably in the SEA, Asian, and Olympic Games."
Buhain opposed Dayrit’s suggestion to merge the Palaro and Batang Pinoy.
He denied Dayrit’s claims of duplication and redundancy.
"Although we admit that the Palaro caters to high school students as well as to elementary pupils who are mostly in the higher grade levels, the Batang Pinoy being a developmental program for children is basically an age-group event wherein children as young as three years old including out-of-school youth, are given the chance to compete in a formal national league, giving them early exposure to physical fitness and sports," said Buhain.
The PSC head disclosed that there are plans to open the Palaro only to athletes 13 years old and up and the Batang Pinoy to participants 12 years old and below. In the long term, the PSC intends to convert the Palaro into an age-group competition where participants play according to age levels and transform it into an LGU-based representation.
Buhain also rejected Dayrit’s idea of holding an integrated version of the Palaro and Batang Pinoy once every two years.
"Experiences of other countries such as the US, Australia, China and many other sports powerhouse around the globe instruct us that holding national competitions every year proves to be effective in sustaining their dominance in international sports," Buhain went on. "In the US, for example, they have age-group competitions, junior and YMCA national tournaments being conducted every year. The same with Australia, Cuba, Korea, Russia, Germany, China and other countries who have different levels of age competitions every year."
More on Buhain’s rebuttal and Dayrit’s reactions tomorrow.
Postscript. RPN Channel 9, Samsung and the La Salle Greenhills Class ’75 Foundation are staging the 2nd La Salle Greenhills Fun Run on Jan. 26, starting 6 a.m., at the La Salle Greenhills campus on Ortigas Ave., Mandaluyong. The event is open to the public as well as to all La Salle students, alumni, athletes and faculty. Proceeds of the project will go to the LSGH Class ’75 Foundation’s various outreach programs. For more details, see posters and print ads or call Dr. Teng Banico at 822-7508 or 0919-4769136 ... Our friends Maureen Ferrer and Carissa Sindiong of Emerald Headway, exclusive distributor of over 700 magazine titles such as Maxim, Stuff, Slam, F1 Racing, and Golf Digest, are inviting Star readers to avail of a special "12 months at 12% off" promo. Subscribe now and get 12% off every new one year subscription or renewal. The promo is until Feb. 28 only and covers monthly titles with at least 10 issues a year. For more details, call 647-4744 or 66 or visit the website www.emeraldheadway.com.
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