THE Partido ng Bayaning Atleta partylist was a big dud and right now, there’s another partylist hoping to become the representative for athletes in the House of Congress. It’s the 1Pacman, and judging from its name alone, you might say that it’s another reincarnation of that partylist with latched on the popularity of Asia’s oldest basketball league.
Hitching with the name of the country’s most popular boxer, the 1Pacman–Patriotic Coalition of Marginalized Nationals–hopes to get a seat in Congress through the partylist election this May, and so far, the party is saying all the right things.
The top nominee is Globalport owner Mikee Romero, who has been calling for a revamp in sports development ever since that 0-0-0 haul in the London Olympics, the fourth straight time we failed to win a single medal in the Olympic Games. With the way things are goings, it might take another generation before we can win another medal, and the exploits of Mansueto Velasco in 1996 will be to the next generation what the 1986 Edsa was to the present millenials–they’d ask, did it really happen?
One of the things that Romero is batting for is the creation for a Department of Sports that will see sports development in the country.
Right now we have a Philippine Sports Commission that oversees how the five percent of the Pagcor earnings will be spent for the national team. Yes, we have a Philippine Olympic Committee but that is a private entity and the president is elected by the different presidents of the National Sports Associations. In practice, the NSA heads sometimes agree that the POC president should be someone closely associated with Malacanang?think Peping Cojuangco and Pnoy.
What could a Department of Sports do in the Philippine landscape? Well, for starters, since I expect it would get a bigger chunk than what the PSC is getting, it could mean our national athletes need not enlist with the AFP anymore to compliment their allowance as national team members.
If I’m not wrong, the allowance is at P20,000 for Class A and half that for Class B. And if you train and compete in Manila and have a family in the province, would P20,000 be enough?
As for grassroots development, we don’t have any. Heck, not even all the various NSAs have any. They rely on the Palarong Pambansa for their pool of athletes and I’m hoping a department of sports can create one?and perhaps pattern it after the Cebu City Sports Commission program?
I really hope 1Pacman, should it get elected, deliver on its promise and not end up like the PBA. ([email protected])
