PSC to study NSAs budget history

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Sports Commission will look into the budget history of all the national sports associations to determine if they have gone overboard in their respective budget proposals for this year.

Chairman Richie Garcia of the PSC yesterday said once the proposals for the close to 50 NSAs are all in, the amount can go as high as P600 million. So far, only 39 NSAs have submitted their requests.

“So. what do we do now? The requests will amount to P600 million and our budget is only P400 million, and nothing more. The NSAs must reduce their requests to a realistic level,” the PSC chairman said.

“Then hopefully it will fit to our budget. We will look into the history of each NSA. If in the last five to 10 years they’ve been given P10 million, and this time they’re asking for P30 million then it’s too much.”

Garcia said all four PSC commissioners will sit down with the heads of the different NSAs under their watch, and hope to find a solution on how they can reduce their budget proposald for 2011.

Garcia said the NSAs will get increases in their budgets because of the higher cost of maintenance as compared to the previous years, but the most can be 50 percent or even a hundred percent.

“But there must be justification. It must be realistic. I’ve seen some of the requests, and most of the international exposures are for Europe, South America, even Mexico and Paris,” Garcia said.

He added that most of the NSAs want to compete in the World Championships even if for some of them there’s very little chance of winning.

“They are just using it as bragging rights that they have competed in the World Championships when even in the Southeast Asian level they don’t excel.Do they really need to go there? Let us prioritize our trips,” said Garcia.

With only 39 NSAs in, the budget proposals for 2011 have already reached more than P455 million, and not included yet are those from NSAs that normally deliver the gold, like boxing, swimming and men’s basketball.

Ironically, it’s the NSAs that have yet to prove themselves overseas who have posted the biggest proposals, with gymnastics eyeing more than P49 million and canoe-kayak seeking more than P48 million.

The heads of both associations, however, have justified their requests, saying they are practically starting from scratch in their bid to improve on their standings in the international arena.