CHED: Crafting collegiate sports

Five days ago, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) hosted a two-pronged event. The morning saw the public orientation on Republic Act 11180. Also known as the “Athletic Programs Report Act,” the law is a way of gathering data on higher education institutions that perform very well in sports by judicious expenditure, research, talent identification, continuing education and so on. All this was born out of the discovery of CHED Chairman Prospero de Vera that there are no nationwide government sports programs at the tertiary level. After the Palarong Pambansa, school sports programs involving the government pretty much stop.

The event was attended in person or virtually by De Vera, CHED NCR director Virginia Akiate, CHED deputy executive director Atty. Lily Freida Macabangun-Milla, Atty. Joseph Estrada from COCOPEA, Atty. Rene “Rebo” Saguisag, executive director of the UAAP, PRISAA secretary-general Dr. Fe R. Medina, Dean Francis Diaz and associate professors Hercules Callanta and Dr. Alberto Dimarucot of the UP College of Human Kinetics, and PBA Party List Rep. Mark Aeron Sambar. Sambar, who was first elected to the House in 2010, has been an invaluable and powerful partner in formulating the laws celebrated that day, as well as rallying support for the measures in the legislature.

“Our direction for this is to ensure that the sports development plans of our higher education institutions are aligned with the national agenda and of the highest international standards,” explained CHED executive director Atty. Cinderella Filipina Benitez-Jaro. “With this collaboration with different sectors, we aim to work together to craft policies, provide training to student-athletes, coaches, and sports officials on higher education through professional development and continuing education.”

Atty. Cindy and her relatively new but incredibly efficient CHED sports group have been working very hard to build the educational infrastructure to make a lasting difference in sports to higher education institutions, students and educators.

In the afternoon, the agency held a public consultation on the Unified Tertiary School Sports Development Program.

“As CHED chairman had mentioned, one of the important contributions of the Unified Tertiary Sports Development Framework is to bring together higher education Institutions, SUCs, and private HEIs, athletic associations, relevant government agencies, such as PSC, CHED, together to craft policies for the development of sports in the higher education,” Benitez-Jaro added. “The commission has been seriously pushing for sports and wellness programs for students, faculty, and school personnel at the tertiary level, because we know that school sports can contribute to the overall education of all students, and not athletes only. School sports promote teamwork, respect, health, and the welfare of all students, not only during their school years, but also in their adulthood.”

With the growing awareness of the two programs and a partnership with the Philippine Sports Commission, CHED now has the clout and means to impact succeeding generations of students who will benefit from sports not only as students or teachers, but as productive citizens.