Funding holds key to Olympic success

TOKYO – Now it can be told. The country spent quite a fortune to achieve the golden breakthrough in the just concluded Tokyo Olympics.

The Philippine Sports Commission shelled out a whopping total of around P2.7 billion to finance the national team programs of the different national sports associations in one full Olympic cycle leading to the historic haul of one gold, two silvers and one bronze in the XXXII Olympiad.

It’s easily more than P3 billion, counting the support of the private sector, most notably that of the MVP Sports Foundation of business mogul Manny V. Pangilinan.

That’s the amount spent for the cost of training, international exposures, foreign coaching, etc. of the national athletes from 2016 all the way to the actual participation of 19 Philippine bets in the Tokyo Games that produced many “firsts” for the country.

“When asked before about our medal prospects in the Olympics, we in the PSC unashamedly replied positively. We believed in the capacity and talent of this delegation to produce. More than that, we knew of the kind and amount of support that were poured into the preparation of our athletes for what is dubbed the greatest sports stage in the world,” said the PSC in a statement.

Along the way, Team Philippines also performed well in the 2018 Asian Games, putting on a show highlighted by four gold-medal feats, then wowed the nation at home with an overall championship finish as host of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.

The PSC funded the financial needs of the national athletes from the budgets drawn from the National Sports Development Fund and the General Appropriations Act.

Amidst the pandemic that saw a drastic cut in cash inflow from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Executive level, Senate and Congress came in to support the national team, especially the preparation for the Olympics qualifiers and the Olympic proper.

Needless to say, it helped that Philippine Olympic Committee president Bambol Tolentino, a deputy speaker in the House, has his allies and friends in the legislature.

“The Executive level, Senate, Congress and the private sector came in to help us sustain support for the national team,” the PSC said.

Seeing what proper funding to sports can do comes some quarters now calling for the restoration of PSC’s full share in the earnings of PAGCOR.

One is former Gilas Pilipinas coach and former congressman Yeng Guiao who has actually filed a petition before the Supreme Court in 2016 seeking to require PAGCOR and the PCSO to remit their proper contributions to the PSC.

“If P2.7 billion can produce one gold, two silvers and one bronze, what more a bigger fund if PSC gets its rightful share from the PAGCOR and PCSO earnings,” said one sports official.

As per RA 6847 that created the PSC Act of 1990, PAGCOR is mandated to remit five percent of its gross income to the government sports agency, while PCSO is supposed to remit 30 percent of earnings from six sweepstakes or lottery draws per annum.

But beginning 1993, PAGCOR has unilaterally brought down its contribution to just 2.1375 percent of its gross income, on the strength of an executive order from the Office of the President handed down during the time of President Ramos.