Early valedictory

I don’t want to live in a country with a brittle spirit. I want to live among soldiers. – Dave Chappelle

Is it too early to say “job well done” to this administration’s Philippine Sports Commission?

Practically the entire government is counting down the days to the May 2022 elections. Given the holidays that come one after another at the end of the year, that is much closer than you think, more so in a country that’s already celebrating Christmas with Halloween still two weeks away. There will also be days lost to typhoons and natural disasters.

Next year will not be a picnic. There are four major multi-sport events in 2022. The Winter Olympics take place in the first quarter; the SEA Games happen in the second quarter. The Asian Games occur in the third quarter, while the Asian Youth Games will be held at the end of the year. This is the first time all those events will occupy the same calendar year. Fortunately, the elections will be over by the time the SEA Games come around. Unfortunately, there will be a new president of the republic come July 1. That means that the entire Philippine Sports Commission board will have tendered their courtesy resignations by then. In effect, the PSC will be an empty house once the third quarter rolls in. And as we experienced with this administration, it may take months to fill in the vacancies. That may mean problems for the Asian Games specifically.

Given all the accomplishments of the Philippine national athletes the past five years, the PSC and the Philippine Olympic Committee have overcome great differences of opinion, personality clashes and multiple upheavals to work together and produce unprecedented results. They realized that it was never about them. Thus, the country was able to deploy athletes to several successful campaigns overseas, host a record-setting Southeast Asian Games, qualify a huge number of athletes to the Tokyo Olympics, and continuously train a huge pool despite the uncertainties caused by shutdowns necessitated by a global pandemic. And oh, yes, win an historic number of Olympic medals for the country, including one elusive gold medal that finally counted in the overall standings. Like a Broadway play, most of the turmoil and stress stayed behind the scenes, making the victories that much sweeter. And since the PSC has been able not only to function, but to exceed themselves, people take it for granted that there still is a pandemic.

“People do not know how hard our people have worked for the athletes, and what we did to protect both the people’s money and how it was spent,” says PSC Chairman Butch Ramirez. “But that is the life of a public servant. What we do is for the athletes, to teach, to inspire, to better future generations.”

Once the elections are decided, the next Chief Executive will have a free hand and a clean slate to form the next iteration of the PSC. There will never be another PSC board like the one we have now. That is simply the fact. And truly, they will be one tough act to follow. The bar has been moved up, and it would be a shame to accept less than that from this point onward.