Political crisis to jack up cost of SEAG preparations — PSC

While they’re not good for the country’s economy, military disturbances similar to what took place a couple of days ago definitely aren’t good for Philippine sports either.

Philippine Sports Commission chairman Eric Buhain yesterday said he’s sincerely hoping that we’ve seen the last of such disturbances, the latest of which hatched by junior military officers trying to air their grievances against their superiors.

"I think it’s not good for everybody economically. There was even a release that our economy was set back one and a half years by this incident," the PSC chief told The STAR during the weekly PSA Forum at the Manila Pavilion.

"We were able to go through it peacefully and we’re lucky that ganoon ang nangyari. But the effect on sports would be more on the private sector aspect," added Buhain, referring to private firms or individuals who might shy away from helping sports in case the economy worsens.

Buhain said the country’s preparations for the Vietnam SEA Games this December might also suffer since the government sports agency will have to spend at least a million dollars for the actual participation of the close to 500 RP athletes.The amount does not include the dollar expenses for the international exposures of the athletes leading to the biennial meet.

"Mas magastos talaga yan pag bumagsak ang peso against the dollar because of what happened.That would have a tremendous effect on sports. Hindi lang sa SEA Games. Because between now and December, all our expenses will be in dollars," said Buhain.

Last Monday, the peso dropped to a four-month low of P54.50 to a dollar because of the knee-jerk reaction brought about by last Sunday’s military siege of a posh apartment complex in Makati City. The stock market also tumbled with all share indexes going down.

"Dapat talaga huwag na maulit ang mga disturbances na ganyan. Hindi lang para sa sports pero para sa lahat," said Buhain, adding that the low, inadequate budget for sports will definitely have no match against a possible economic downslide.